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SACRED 


©a©(BiB^iPiKnr3 

OR THE 

HISTORY OF THE 

PATRIARCHS. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED, 

THE HISTORY OF 

DEBORAH, RUTH, AND HANNAH. 

BEING 

A COURSE OF LECTURES, 

DELIVERED AT THE SCOTS CHURCH, LONDON WALL 


BY HENRY HUNTER, D. D. 

i! 


THE THIRD AMERICAN EDITION. 

COMPLETE IN FOUR VOLUMES* 

YOL. I. 


Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 

John viii. 58. 

l am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and 
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Revelation i. 8. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED BY I. PEIRCE, N° 5, North Front Street 
AND JOHN RICHARDSON, N° SI, Market. 

1818 . 

>v 


GRIGGS & CO. PRINTERS. 














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Exchange 
Univ. of Mich. 

MOV 2 9 


if if if . |*,i 






H VGr 2 


CONTENTS 

OF 

VOLUME FIRST. 


LECTURE I. 

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. page 9 
Rom. xv. 4.—For whatsoever things were written aforetime, 
were written for our learning, that we through patience 
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 

LECTURE II. 

HISTORY OF ADAM. is 

Gen. v. 5.—And all the days that Adam lived, were nine 
hundred and thirty years, and he died. 

LECTURE III. 

ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. 31 

1 Cor. xv. 45.—And so it is written, The first man, Adam, 
was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quick¬ 
ening spirit. 

LECTURE IV. 


HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. 41 

Heb. xi. 4.—By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excel¬ 
lent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that 
he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he, 
being dead, yet speaketh. 

LECTURE V. 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 51 

1 John iii. 11 , 12.—For this is the message that ye have 
heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. * 
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his 
brother: and wherefore slew he him ? Because his own 
works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 

LECTURE VI. 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 62 

Gen. v. 24.—And Enoch walked with God, antj he was not, 
for God took him. 









II 


CONTENTS, 


LECTURE VII. 

HISTORY OF NOAH. 73 

Gen. v. 28, 29. —And Lamech lived an hundred and eighty, 
and tv\ o years, and begat a son : and he called his name 
Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our 
work and toil 'of our hands, because of the ground which 
the Lord hath cursed. 

LECTURE VIII. 

HISTORY OF NOAH. 84 

Gen. vii. 1.— -And God remembered Noah, and every living 
thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark : and 
God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters 
assuaged. 

LECTURE IX. 

NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. 95 

Isaiah liv. 7, 8, 9, 10. —For a small moment have I forsaken 
thee ; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little 
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with 
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the 
Lord, thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah 
unto me : for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah 
should no more go over the earth ; so have I sworn that I 
would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the 
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my 
kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the cove¬ 
nant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath 
mercy on thee. 

LECTURE X. 

HISTORY OF ABRAM. 108 

Gen. xii. 1.—Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out 
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s 
house, into a land that I will shew thee. 

LECTURE XI. 

HISTORY OF ABRAM. 119 

Gen. xiii. 8.—And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no 
strife. I pray thee, between me and thee, and between rny 
herdmen and thy herdmen : for we be brethren. 

LECTURE XII. 

HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. 131 

Gen. xiv. 18. —And Melchizedec, king of Salem, brought 
forth bread and wine : and he was the priest of the most 
high God. 

Psalm cx. 4. —The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, 
Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec. 

Heb. vi. 20.—Jesos, made an High Priest for ever, after the 
order of Melchizedec. 


CONTENTS. 


Ill 


LECTURE XIII. 

HISTORY OF ABRAM. 147 

Gen. xv. 17, 18.—And it came to pass that when the sun 
went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoaking furnace, 
and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces: in 
the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. 

LECTURE XIV. 

HISTORY OF ABRAM/ 160 

Isaiah xxviii. 16 —He that believeth shall not make haste. 

LECTURE XV. 

HISTORY OF ABRAM. 172 

Heb. xiii. 2.—Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for 
thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 

LECTURE XVI. 

HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 182 

James ii. 23.—And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, 
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for 
righteousness : and he was called the friend of God. 

LECTURE XVII. 

HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 193 

Reb. xi. 17, 18, 19.—By faith Abraham, when he was tried, 
offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises 
offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that 
in Isaac shall thy seed be called ; accounting that God was 
able to raise him up, even from the dead ; from whence al¬ 
so he received him in a figure. 

LECTURE XVIII. 

HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 204 

Heb. xi. 13, i4, 15, 16.—These all died in faith, not having 
received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and 
were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confess¬ 
ed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For 
they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a 
country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that 
country from whence they came out, they might have had 
opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a 
better country, that is, an heavenly ; wherefore God is not 
ashamed to be called their God ; for he hath prepared for 
them a city. 


CONTENTS 


OF SECOND 

COURSE OF LECTURES. 


LECTURE I. 

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. page 219 
Zech. i. 5, 6. —Your fathers, where are they ? and the pro¬ 
phets, do they live for ever ? But my words and my statutes, 
which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they 
not take hold of your fathers ? And they returned and said, 

Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according 
to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt 
with us. 

LECTURE II. 

HISTORY OF ISAAC. 231 

Gen. xxv. 11.—And it came to pass after the death of Abra¬ 
ham, that God blessed his son Isaac : and Isaac dwelt by 
the well Lahai-roi. 

LECTURE III. 

HISTORY OF ISAAC. 241 

Gen. xxvi. 23, 25. —And he went up from thence to Beer- 
sheba. And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, 
and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, 
for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy 
seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.—And he builded an 
altar there, and called upon! the name of the Lord, and 
pitched his tent there : and there Isaac’s servants digged 
a well. 

LECTURE IV. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 256 

Gen. xxii. 1 , 5. —And it came to pass that when Isaac was 
old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he call¬ 
ed Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son : and he 
said unto him, Behold here am I. And he said, Behold 
now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. Now 
therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver, and 
thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison: 
and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it 




CONTENTS. 


V 


to me, that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee, before 
I die. And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau 
his son; and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, 
and to bring it. 

LECTURE V. 

HISTORY OF JACOB. 267 

Gen, xxv. 27, 84.—And the boys grew; and Esau was a 
cunning hunter, a man of the field : and Jacob was a plain 
man dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he 
did eat of his venison ; but Rebekah loved Jacob. And 
Jacob sod pottage ; and Esau came from the field, and he 
was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me I pray thee, 
with that same red pottage, for I am faint; therefore was 
his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day 
thy birth right. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point 
to die : and what profit shall this birthright do to me; And 
Jacob said, Sware to me this day : and he sware unto him : 
and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave 
Esau bread and pottage of lentiies, and he did eat, and drink, 
and rose up, and went his way: Thus Esau despised his 
birth-right. 

LECTURE VI. 

HISTORY OF JACOB. 279 

Gen. xxviii. 5, 10. —And Isaac sent away Jacob, and he went 
to Padan-aram, unto Laban, son of Bethuel, the Syrian, the 
brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. And Ja¬ 
cob went out from Beer-sheba, and went towards Haran. 

LECTURE VII. 

HISTORY OF JACOB. 290 

Gen. xxix. 20.—And Jacob served seven years for Rachel: 
and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he 
had to her. 

LECTURE VIII. 

HISTORY OF JACOB. 301 

Gen. xxx. 25, 30.— And it came to pass, when Rachel had 
borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away, 
that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. 

Give me my wives, and my children, for whom I have served 
thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I 
have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, 
if I have found favour in thine eyes tarry: for I have learned 
by experience, that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. 

And he said appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. 

And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served 
thee, and how thy cattle was with me. For it was little 
which thou hadst before I came: and it is now increased 


VI 


CONTENTS 


unto a multitude 1 And the Lord hath blessed thee since 
my coming: and now when shall I provide for my own 
house also ? 

LECTURE IX. 

HISTORY OF JACOB. 314 

Gen. xxxii. 9, 11.— And Jacob said, O God of my father 
Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which 
saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kin¬ 
dred, and I will deal well with thee; I am not worthy 
of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, wiiich 
thou hast shewed unto thy servant: for with my staff I 
passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. 
Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, 
from the hand of Esau : for I fear him, least he will 
come and smite me, and the mother with the children. 

LECTURE X. 

HISTORY OF JACOB. 327 

Gen. xlii. 36, 38.—And Jacob their father said unto them, 

Me have ye bereaved of my children; Joseph is not, and 
Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away ; all these 
things are against mn Anri Reuben spake unto his father, 
paying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee ; deli¬ 
ver him into mine hand, and I will bring him to thee again. 

And he said, My son shall not go down with you : for his 
brother is dead, and he is left alone : if mischief befal him 
by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down 
my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. 

LECTURE XI. 

HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 340 

Gen. xxxvii. 3, 4.—Now Israel loved Joseph more than 
all his children, because he was the son of his old age; 
and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his 
brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his 
brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably 
unto him. 

LECTURE XII. 

HISTORY OR JOSEPH. 353 

Gen. xxxix. 26.—And the Lord was with Joseph, and he 
was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his 
master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord 
was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to 
prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his 
sight, and he served him : and he made him overseer 
over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 

And it came to pass, from the time that he had made him 
overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the 
Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake: and 


CONTENTS. 


VII 


the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the 
house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in 
Joseph’s hand ; and he knew not ought he had, save the 
bread which he did eat: and Joseph was a goodly per¬ 
son, and well favoured. 

LECTURE XIII. 

HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 367 

Gen. xli. 38, 44.—And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can 
we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the spirit of 
God is ? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God 
hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and 
wise as thou art: thou shalt be over my house, and according 
unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the 
throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said un¬ 
to Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the Land of Egypt. 

And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it up¬ 
on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, 
and put a gold chain about his neck : and he made him to 
ride in the second chariot which he had : and they cried be¬ 
fore him. Bow the knee ; and he made him ruler over all 
the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am 
Pharaoh: and without thee shall no man lift up his hand 
or foot in all the land of Egypt. 

LECTURE XIV. 

iiiotory or JooErn. 381 

Gen. xlv. 3, 5.— And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am 
Joseph; doth my father yet live ? And his brethren could 
not answer him : for they were troubled at his presence. 

And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I 
pray you: and they came near, and he said, I am Joseph your 
brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be 
not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me 
hither, for God did send me before you, to preserve life. 

LECTURE XV. 

HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 394 

Gen. xlv. 24, 28.-—So he sent his brethren away, and they 
departed : and he said unto them, See that ye fall not 
out by the way. And they went up out of Egypt, and 
came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father ; and 
told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor 
over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, 
for he believed them not. And they told him all the words 
of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw 
the wagons which Joseph hadsent to carry him, the spirit 
of Jacob their father revived. And Israel said, It is enough : 
Joseph my son is yet alive : I will go and see him before 
I die. 

# J? 


VIII 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE XVI. 

HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 40g 
Gen. xlix. I, 33.—And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, 
Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which 
shall befal you in the last days.—And when Jacob had 
made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his 
feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered 
unto his people. 

LECTURE XVII. 

HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 421 

Gen. 1. 24, 26.— And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: 
and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land, 
unto the land which he sware unto Abraham, to Isaac and 
to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of 
Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry- 
up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being a hun¬ 
dred and ten years old : and they embalmed him, and he was 
put in a coffin in Egypt. 

LECTURE XVIII. 

HISTORY OF MOSES. 432 

Exod. ii. 1, 10.—And there went a man of the house of Levi, 
and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman con¬ 
ceived, and bare a son; and when she saw him that he was a 
goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she 
could no longer nide liim, »iit luuK ror mm an ark ot bul¬ 
rushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the 
child therein ; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s 
brink. And his sister stood afar off to wit what would be 
done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to 
wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by 
the river’s side : and when she saw the ark among the flags, 
she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, 
she saw the child : and behold the babe wept. And she 
had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the He¬ 
brew’s children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daugh¬ 
ter, Shall I go, and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew wo¬ 
men, that she may nurse the child for thee ? And Pharaoh’s 
daughter said unto her, Go. And the maid went, and call¬ 
ed the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto 
her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will 
give thee thy wages : and the woman took the child, and 
nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto 
Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son, and she called 
his name Moses j and she said, Because I drew him out of 
the water. 


SACRED BIOGRAPHY. 


LECTURE I. 


For whatsoever things were written aforetime , were 
zvritten for our learning , that we through patience 
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope .— 
Rom. xv. 4. 


\ A RIO U S methods have been employed, at dif¬ 
ferent periods, and by different persons, to convey use¬ 
ful knowledge to mankind. The knowledge most 
useful and most important to man, is that of morals 
and religion. These sciences not only afford the most 
pleasant and elevating subjects of meditation, but evil 
dently possess a very powerful influence over human 
happiness, both in the life which now is, and in that 
which is to come. 

The principles of morality and religion have, by 
some, been delivered in short, plain, and significant 
sentences; and have been left to produce their effect, 
by their own weight and evidence. Public teachers 
have, at other times, taken pains to explain and en¬ 
force these principles; have demonstrated their reason¬ 
ableness and utility ; and have exhibited the criminali¬ 
ty, the danger, and the misery, of neglecting or trans¬ 
gressing them. The charms and graces of poetry have 
been employed to set off the native, modest beauties 
of truth and virtue, and allegory has spread her veil 
over them, in order to stimulate our ardour in the pur¬ 
suit, and to heighten our pleasure in the discovery. 
Vol. I. * R 




10 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


LECT. I. 


The penetration of genius, the enchantment of elo¬ 
quence, and the creative energy of fancy, have success¬ 
fully lent their aid to those gentle guides of human life, 
those condescending ministers to human comfort. 

The historic page, that faithful and true witness, has 
been unfolded. Ages and generations, elapsed and 
gone, have been made to pass in review ; and the les¬ 
sons of religion and virtue have been forcibly incul¬ 
cated, by a fair anti impartial disclosure of the effects, 
v. hich the observance or neglect of them have produced 
on the affairs of men. And the pencil of history has 
enriched the canvass, not only with men in groups, but 
selecting distinguished individuals, delineating them in 
their just proportions, and enlivening them with the co¬ 
lours of nature, has exhibited a collection of striking 
portraits, for our entertainment and instruction. In con¬ 
templating these, we seem to expatiate in a vast gal¬ 
lery of family pictures, and take delight in observing 
and comparing the various features of the extensive kin¬ 
dred, as they resemble or differ from each other; and 
through the phisiognomy piercing into the heart, we find 
them, though dead, yet speaking and pleasing compa¬ 
nions. 

The holy scriptures possess an acknowledged supe¬ 
riority over all other writings, in all the different kinds 
of literary composition ; and in none more, than in that 
species^of historical composition, which is called Biog¬ 
raphy, or a delineation of the fortunes, character 
and conduct of particular persons : and that, whether 
the historians be themselves the men whom they des¬ 
cribe and record ; or whether, from proper sources of 
information, they record the lives and actions of others. 

These Lectures, undertaken at your request, and 
humbly submitted to your candid and patient attention ; 
and, permit me to add, intended for your religious in¬ 
struction and improvement, will, through the help of 
God, present you with a course of Sacred Biogra¬ 
phy, that is, the more particular and detached history of 


LECT. I. 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


II 


the lives of those eminent and distinguished personages* 
whom Providence raised up, and whom the Holy Spirit 
has in the scriptures of truth represented, either as pat¬ 
terns for us to imitate, or as objects of disesteem and 
aversion. We shall endeavour to compare together 
those which possess more obvious and striking marks of 
resemblance or of dissimilitude; and they shall be 
brought, one after another, into comparison with that 
pure and perfect example of all excellence, which was 
exhibited by Him, who is “ holy, harmless, undefiled, 
and separate from sinners.” 

Happy will your Lecturer esteem himself, if he 
shall in any measure attain, what he ardently desires, 
the power of blending profit with delight, for your use ; 
the power with which the lively oracles of God furnish 
him, that of rendering the errrors and the vices, as well 
as the wisdom and the virtue of others, beneficial unto 
you. 

In order to justify the design, for we presume not to 
answer for the execution, we shall endeavour to shew 
the propriety and usefulness of this mode of instruc¬ 
tion in general, and the peculiar advantages which the 
sacred writers enjoy, in thus communicating useful 
knowledge ; and which we of course possess, in the dili¬ 
gent and attentive perusal of their writings : and this 
shall serve as an Introductory Lecture to the course. 

We begin with attempting to shew the propriety 
and usefulness of conveying instruction, by means of 
the historical representation of the character and con¬ 
duct of individuals, as opposed to the object of general 
history. 

Now the professed purpose of all history is, without 
fear or favour, without partiality or prejudice, to repre¬ 
sent men and things as they really are—that goodness 
may receive its just tribute of praise, and vice meet its 
deserved censure and condemnation. It is evident, 
that this end is most easily and most certainly attained, 
when our attention is confined, to one particular ob- 


12 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


LECT. I* 


ject, or to a few at most. This may be judged of by 
the feelings and operations of the mind, in the contem¬ 
plation of other objects. 

When from the summit of some lofty mountain, we 
survey the wide extended lanscape; though highly 
delighted, we fed ourselves bewildered, and over¬ 
whelmed, by the profusion and variety of beauties 
which nature spreads around us. But when we enter 
into the detail of nature ; when we attend the footsteps 
of a friend through some favoured, beautiful spot, which 
the eye and the mind can take in at once; feeling our¬ 
selves at ease, with undivided, undestracted attention 
we contemplate the whole : we examine and arrange 
the parts ; the imagination is indeed less expanded, but 
the heart is more gratified; our pleasure is less violent 
and tumultuous, but it is more intense, more complete, 
and continues much longer; what is lost in respect of 
sublimity, is gained in perspicuity, force and duration. 

Take another instance :—The starry heavens present 
a prospect equally agreeable to every eye. The de¬ 
lights of a calm, serene evening, are as much relished 
by the simple and unlettered, as by the philosopher. 
But who will compare the vague admiration of the 
child or the clown with the scientific joy of the astro¬ 
nomer, who can reduce into order, what to the untu¬ 
tored eye is involved in confusion ; who can trace the 
path of each little star; and from their past appearances, 
can calculate, to an instant of time, their future op¬ 
positions and conjunctions ? 

Once more :—It is highly gratifying to find ourselves 
in the midst of a public assembly of agreeable people of 
both sexes, and to partake of the general cheerfulness 
and benevolence. But what are the cheerfulness and 
benevolence of a public assembly, compared to the en¬ 
dearments of friendship, and the meltings of love ? To 
enjoy these, we must retire from the crowds, and have 
recourse to the individual. In like manner, whatever 
satisfaction and improvement may be derived from 


tECT. I. 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


13 


general histories of mankind, which we would not be 
thought by any means to depreciate; yet the history 
of particular persons, if executed with fidelity and skill, 
while it exercises the judgment less severely, so it fixes 
down the attention more closely, and makes its way 
more directly and more forcibly to the heart. 

To those who are acquainted with this kind of wri¬ 
ting, much need not be said, to evince the superior ex¬ 
cellency of the sacred penman. Biographers merely 
human necessarily lie under many disadvantages, and 
are liable to many mistakes. The lapse of time is in¬ 
cessantly thickening the veil which is spread over re¬ 
mote persons and events. The materials of history 
lie buried, confounded, dispersed, among the ruins of 
antiquity; and cannot be easily distinguished and se¬ 
parated, even by the eye of discernment, and the 
hand of honesty, from the rubbish of fiction. And 
as they are not always furnished by truth and nature, 
so neither are they always selected with judgment, nor 
employed with taste and discretion. 

Men, who only see the outside, must of necessity 
infer the principles of human actions from the actions 
themselves. And yet no rule of judgment is more 
erroneous: for experience assures us, that many, per¬ 
haps the greater part of our actions, are not the result of 
design, and are not founded on principle, but are pro¬ 
duced by the concourse of incidents which we could 
not foresee, and proceed from passions kindled at the 
moment. 

Besides, every man sits down to write, whether of 
ages past, or of the present, of characters near or re¬ 
mote, with a bias upon his mind; and this he naturally 
endeavours to communicate to his reader. All men 
have their favourite periods, causes, characters ; which, 
of course, they strive, at any rate, to embellish, to 
support, to recommend. They are equally subject to 
antipathies on the other hand, under the influence of 
which, they as naturally strive to depress, to expose, 


14 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


LECT. I, 


and to censure, what they dislike. And as men write 
and speak, so they read and hear, under the influence of 
prejudice and passion. Where the historian’s opinions 
coincide with our own, we cheerfully allow him to be 
in the right: when they differ, without hesitation we 
pronounce him to be mistaken. 

Most of the writers of profane ancient history are 
chargeable with an absurdity, which greatly discredits 
the facts they relate, and reduces their works almost 
to the level of fable. They attempt too much ; they 
must needs account for every thing; they conjecture 
when light fails them; and because it is probable or 
certain that eminent men employed eloquence on im¬ 
portant public occasions, their historians at the distance 
of many centuries, without record, or written docu¬ 
ment of any kind whatever, have, from the ample store 
of a fertile imagination, furnished posterity with the 
elaborate harangues of generals, statesmen, and kings. 
These, it is acknowledged, are among the most ingeni¬ 
ous, beautiful, and interesting of the traces of anti¬ 
quity which they have transmitted to us : what man of 
taste could bear to think of stripping these elegant 
performances of one of their chief excellencies ? But 
truth is always injured by every the slightest connec¬ 
tion with fable. The moment I begin to read one of 
the animated speeches of a hero or a senator, which 
were never composed, delivered, or written, till the 
historian arose, I feel myself instantly transported from 
the real theatre of human life, into a fairy region : I 
am agreeably amused, nay, delighted; but the sacred 
impress of truth is rendered fainter and feebler to my 
mind: and when I lay down the book, it is not the fire 
and address of the speaker, but the skill and ingenuity 
of the w r riter that I admire. Modern history, more 
correct and faithful than ancient, has fallen, however, 
into an absurdity not much less censurable. I mean 
that fanciful delineation of character, with which the ac¬ 
count of certain periods, and the lives of distinguished 


Iect. i. 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


15 


personages, commonly conclude; in which we often 
find a bold hypothesis hazarded for the sake of a point; 
and a strong feature added to, or taken away from a cha¬ 
racter, merely to help the author to round his period. 

Finally, a great part of profane history is altogether 
uninteresting to the bulk of mankind. The events re¬ 
corded are removed to a vast distance, and have entire¬ 
ly spent their force. The actors exhibited are either 
too lofty to admit of our approach, with any interest 
or satisfaction to ourselves ; too brutal to be consider¬ 
ed without disgust, or too low to be worthy of our re¬ 
gard. The very scenes of action are become inacces¬ 
sible or unknown; are altered, obliterated, or disre¬ 
garded. Where Alexander conquered, and how Cae¬ 
sar fell, are to us mere nothings. 

But on opening the sacred volume, all these obstruc¬ 
tions in the way of knowledge, of truth, of pleasure, 
and of improvement, instantly disappear. Length of 
duration can oppose no cloud to that intelligence, with 
which “ a thousand years are as one day, and one day, 
as a thousand years.” The human heart is there un¬ 
folded to our view, by Him, who knows wdiat is in 
man,” and “ whose eyes are in every place, beholding 
the evil and the good.” The men and the events therein 
represented are universally and perpetually interesting, 
for they are blended with “ the things which accompany 
salvation,” and alfect our everlasting peace. There, 
the writers, whether they speak of themselves or of 
other men, are continually under the direction of the 
Spirit of all truth and wisdom. These venerable men, 
though subject to like passions with others, there, 
speak not of themselves, but from God; “ for the pro¬ 
phecy came not in old time by the will of man ; but 
holv men of God spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost, 2 Peter, i. 21. And all scripture is given 
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous¬ 
ness ; that tlte man of God may be perfect, thoroughly, 


16 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. I. 

furnished unto all good works,’’ 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. 

Having premised these things, we will proceed next 
Lord’s day, if God permit, to the execution of our 
plan; and shall begin, as the order both of nature and 
of scripture prescribe, with the history of Adam, the 
venerable father and founder of the human race. 

Men, Brethren, and Fathers, we are about to study 
the lives of other men ; but it concerns us much 
more to look well to our own. Our forefathers were ; 
we are. The curtain has dropped, and has hid ages 
and generations past from our eyes. Our little scene 
is going on ; and must likewise speedily close. We are 
not indeed, perhaps, furnishing materials for histor}^. 
When we die, obscurity will probably spread the veil 
of oblivion over us. But let it be ever remembered by 
all, that every man’s life is of importance to himself, 
to his family, to his friends, to his country, and in the 
sight of God. They are by no means the best men, 
who have made most noise in the world; neither are 
those actions most deserving of praise, which have ob¬ 
tained the greatest share of fame. Scenes of violence 
and blood; the workings of ambition, pride, and re¬ 
venge, compose the annals of men. But piety and 
purity, temperance and humility, which are little no¬ 
ticed and soon forgotten of the world, are held in 
everlasting remembrance before God. And happy 
had it been for many of those, whose names and deeds 
have been transmitted to us with renown, if they had 
never been born. 

One corruption subdued is a victory infinitely more 
desirable, and more truly honourable, than a triumph 
gained amidst the confused noise of ten thousand war¬ 
riors, and as many garments rolled in blood; for he 
“ that is slow to anger is better than the mighty : and he 
that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” Prov. 
xv i. 32. Remember, my friends, that to be a child of 
God is far more honourable than to be descended from 
kings; and that a Christian is a much higher character 


LECT. I. 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


17 


than a hero. And let this consideration influence all 
that you undertake, all that you do. Act as if the 
eyes of Cato were always upon you, was the precept 
given, and the motive urged, to the Roman youth, in 
order to excel in virtue. The eyes of God are in truth 
continually upon you. Live then as in his sight; and 
knowing that every action as it is performed, every 
word as it is spoken, and every thought as it arises, 
is recorded in the book of God’s remembrance, and 
must come into judgment, “ keep thy heart with all 
diligence,” set a watch on the door of thy lips, “ and 
whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all 
to the glory of God.” 

We are about to review' ages past, and to converse 
with men long since dead. And the period is fast ap¬ 
proaching, wdien time itself shall be swallowed up; 
when Adam and his youngest son shall be contempo¬ 
raries ; when the mystery of providence shall be clear¬ 
ed up, the mystery of grace finished, and the ways of 
God fully vindicated to men. In the humble and so¬ 
lemn expectation of that great event, knowing and be¬ 
lieving the scriptures, and the power of God, let us 
study to live a life of faith and holiness upon the Son 
of God ; “ redeeming the time, because the days are 
evil,” and “ working out our own salvation with 
fear and trembling.” And may the God of our 
fathers be our God and the God of our offspring, and 
conduct us through the dangerous and difficult paths of 
human life, and through the valley of the shadow of 
death, to his own “ presence, where there is fulness of 
joy, and to his right hand, where there are pleasures 
for evermore.” Amen. 



Vol. I. 


C 


HISTORY OF ADAM. 


LECTURE II. 

And all the days that Adam, lived, were nine hundred and 
thirty years , and he died, — Gen. v. 5. 

If to trace the origin of particular nations ; if to mark, 
and to account for, the rise and progress of empire, 
the revolutions of states, the discovery of new worlds, 
be an interesting, pleasant, and useful exercise of the 
human mind; how amusing, interesting and instruc¬ 
tive must it be, to trace human nature itself up 
to its source ! Placed beneath the throne of God, it 
is pleasing to observe how the heavens and the earth 
took their beginning; and by what means this globe 
was at first peopled, and continues to be filled with men. 
If there be a natural, and not illaudable propensity, in 
individuals, to dive into the pedigree of their families ; 
and in nations, to fix that of their princes, heroes and 
legislators ; is it possible to want curiosity, or to miss 
entertainment, when the history of the venerable Fa¬ 
ther of all Men is presented to our attention—that of 
Adam, to whom we feel ourselves closely allied by con¬ 
dition and by blood, however unconnected we may 
seem to be with most of the collateral branches of the 
family; of whose nature we all partake; by whose 
conduct we are all affected, and in the consequences of 
whose actions we are all to this day involved ? 

In pursuing this important inquiry, we have Gob 
himself for our guide, and we plunge into the dark re¬ 
gions of the remotest antiquity, lighted by that gra¬ 
cious spirit, to whom all nature stands confessed, and 




LECT. II. 


HISTORY OF ADAM. 


19 


with whom the whole extent of time is a single point, 
an unchanging now. 

God having framed and fitted up this vast fabric, this 
magnificent palace, the earth, worthy of the inhabitant 
whom he designed to occupy it, and worthy of himself; 
having formed, arranged, and fructified the various 
and innumerable vegetable and animal tribes; having 
created, suspended, and balanced the greater and the 
lesser lights,.and settled the economy of the whole host 
of heaven ; at length, with all the solemnity and ma¬ 
jesty of Deity, as with the maturity of deliberation, as 
with a peculiar effort of divine power and skill, he de¬ 
signs and produces Adam, the first of men. When 
the earth is to be fashioned, and the ocean to be pour¬ 
ed into its appointed bed; when the firmament is to be 
expanded, and suns to be lighted up, God says, Let 
them be , and they are created. But when man is to 
be made, the creating power seems to make a solemn 
pause, retires within himself, looks for a model by 
which to frame this exquisite piece of workmanship, 
and finds it in himself. “ And God said, Let us make 
man in our image, after our likeness; and let them 
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, 
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the 
earth. So God created man in his own image, in the 
image of God created he him, male and female crea¬ 
ted he them,” Gen. i, 26, 27. 

Thus then was brought into existence, the father 
and founder of the human race. And O, how fair 
must that form have been, which the fingers of God 
framed, without the intervention of a second cause * 
How capacious that soul which the breath of God im¬ 
mediately inspired ! But glorious and perfect as he is, 
Adam, upon his very first reflection, feels himself a de¬ 
pendant and a limited being. No sooner has his eye as¬ 
cended to God who made him, than it returns to the 
earth from whence he was taken ; and the very first ex- 



20 


HISTORY OF ADAM. 


LECT. II. 


cursion of reason informs him that he is at the disposal 
of another, and restrained by a law. He receives a 
whole globe over which he is permitted an unlimited 
sovereignty ; but one tree is reserved, as a token of his 
subjection. Every plant in paradise offers itself to gra¬ 
tify his sense, every animal does homage at his feet; 
but the sight of one kind of fruit in the midst of the 
garden continually reminds him, that he himself is de¬ 
pendant upon, and accountable to God ; and while six 
parts of tin e are allow ed for his own employments and 
delights, the seventh is set apart, sacred to his Maker. 

Behold him then taking possession of his fair inheri¬ 
tance, of his vast empire, in all the majesty of uncloud¬ 
ed reason, all the beauty of perfect innocence ; possess¬ 
ed of every bodily, of every mental endowment. His 
numerous vassals of the brute creation present them¬ 
selves before him : at one glance he discovers their na¬ 
ture and qualities, and gives them suitable names. But, 
while he is invested in the property of a world, he re¬ 
ceives it as a charge for w hich he is to be responsible : 
“ The Lord God took the man, and put him into the 
garden of Fden, to keep itand he, for whom God 
and nature had produced all things in a luxuriant abun¬ 
dance, has nevertheless employment assigned him ; he 
is placed in the garden to dress it. And can any of 
his degenerate sons then dream of independent proper¬ 
ty ; or reckon w ant of employment to be an honourable 
distinction. 

Behold him accepting his charge with submission and 
gratitude; entering on his employment with alacrity 
and joy ; surveying his ample portion with complacen¬ 
cy and delight. The prosecution of his pleasant task 
unfolds to him still new' wonders of divine power and 
skill. The flow er, and the shrub, and the tree, disclose 
their virtues, uses, and ends, to his observing eye. 
Every beast of the field spontaneously ministers to his 
pleasure or his advantage ; all the host of heaven 
stands revealed to his capacious soul; and God him- 


% 


yp* • 

LECT. II. HISTORY OF ADAM. 2L 

self, the great Lord of all, delights in him, and conver¬ 
ses with him as a father and a friend. 

But yet he is alone ; and therefore, even, in paradise, 
but half blessed. The exulting heart of man pants for 
communication of satisfaction, and the rich profusion 
of Eden is but half relished and enjoyed, because there 
is no partaker with him. Being corporeal and earthly, 
he is unfit for the society of pure spirits; being ration¬ 
al and divine, he is above the society of the most saga¬ 
cious of the subject tribes. “ For Adam,” in the wide 
extended creation, “ there was not found a help meet 
for him.” But no sooner is the want felt, than it is 
supplied. God, who does nothing imperfectly, at 
length makes the happiness of paradise complete, and 
fills up the measure of Adam’s joy. “ And the Lord 
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: 
and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in¬ 
stead thereof. And the rib which the Lord had taken 
from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the 
man,” Gen. ii. 21, 22. 

What an important era in the life of Adam ! What 
a new display of the Creator’s power, and skill, and 
goodness ! How must the spirit of devotion be height¬ 
ened, now that man could join in social worship ! What 
additional satisfaction in contemplating the frame, or¬ 
der, and course of nature, now that he possessed the 
most exalted of human joys, that of conveying know¬ 
ledge to a beloved object! Now that he can instruct 
Eve in the wonders of creation, and unfold to her their 
Maker’s nature, perfections, and will! What a new fla¬ 
vour have the fruits which grow in the garden of God 
acquired, now that they are gathered by the hand of 
conjugal affection, and recommended to the taste by 
the smile of complacency and love !—Ah ! why were 
not joys like these permanent as they were pure? Was 
bliss like this bestowed but to be blasted ? And must 
Adam’s chief felicity issue in his ruin ? 


22 


HISTORY OP ADAM. 






LECT. II. 

We are reluctantly brought forward to that awful re¬ 
volution, which at length took place in Adam’s condi¬ 
tion and character. Of the duration of his innocence 
and happiness we have no account. His history now 
becomes blended with that of the wicked and malig¬ 
nant spirit, who had “ left his first estate” of holiness 
and felicity : and who, having artfully seduced our first 
parents from their innocence, exposed them to the 
wrath of God, procured their expulsion from paradise, 
rendered them a prey to fear, shame, and remorse, and 
subjected them to pain, disease and death. 

The circumstances of the case, according to the 
scripture account of it, were these. The devil obser¬ 
ved the serpent to be an animal of peculiar sagacity 
and penetration, and fixes on him as a fit instrument of 
seduction. Fearing a repulse from the superior firm¬ 
ness and discernment of the man, he watches for, and 
finds the unhappy moment, when the woman, being se¬ 
parated from her husband, opposed to his wiles inferi¬ 
or powers of reason and intelligence, with greater soft¬ 
ness and pliancy. He addresses himself to a principle 
in her nature, the immoderate indulgence of which has 
proved fatal to so many thousands of her daughters, cu¬ 
riosity; curiosity, the investigator of truth, the mother 
of invention ; curiosity, the prompter to rashness, the 
parent of danger, the guide to ruin. Having first gain¬ 
ed her attention, he excites her to doubt and to reason 
in the face of a positive command ; rouses in her a spi¬ 
rit of pride and ambition ; and at length persuades her 
to make the fatal experiment. She eats of the prohibit¬ 
ed tree, and, by transgression, acquires the knowledge 
of evil , whereas she had hitherto known only good. 

By what arguments Adam was prevailed upon to be¬ 
come a partner of her guilt, we are not informed. 
From the apology he made for his conduct, it is to be 
inferred that female insinuation and address misled him 
from the law of his God. And thus w r ere both ruined 
by the operation of principles in themselves good and 


1ECT. II. 


HISTORY OF ADAM. 


23 


useful; but carried to excess, unchecked by reason, 
unawed by religion. Eve perished by a curious and 
ambitious desire after a condition, for which God and 
nature had not designed her, a desire to be “ as God, 
to know good and evil.” Adam fell by complaisance 
to his wife, carried to unmanly weakness and com¬ 
pliance, yielding to his subject, bidding defiance to his 
sovereign. 

And what words can express, what heart can con¬ 
ceive the bitter change ! All his posterity have experi¬ 
enced the melancholy transition from health to sick¬ 
ness, from ease to pain : very many have passed from 
affluence to indigence, from glory to shame, and not a 
few have exchanged empire itself for banishment or a 
dungeon. But more than the accumulated weight of 
all these at once, kills on the devoted head of our 
guilty first father. The eyes, which before met the 
approach of God with rapture, now are clouded with 
sorrow, tremble with fear, or strain with remorse and 
horror, at the voice of the Almighty. That tongue 
which was once tuned only to the accent and the 
language of love, has in a moment learned to re¬ 
proach and upbraid. The heart which glowed at the 
promise and the prospect of a fair, numerous, and hap- 
py progeny, now sinks in dejection at the dismal 
apprehension of that guilt and wo, in which his folly 
had plunged all his hapless children. Where inno¬ 
cence sat enthroned, there fell despair broods over her 
own stinging reflections, and tormenting fears. Above, 
the awful throne of an offended God; beneath, a fa¬ 
thomless gulf, kindled by the breath of Jehovah as a 
stream of brimstone ; within, a troubled conscience, 
like the raging sea, incapable of taking rest. “ The 
glory is departed: the gold is become dim, and the 
most fine gold changed.” 

And now a revolution in outward circumstan¬ 
ces takes pla r ^oQding to that which had pass¬ 

ed on his intei. n t s the 1 ^ and character. Adam 


1 


24 HISTORY OF ADAM. LECT. IX. 

must no longer possess that paradise of which he had 
rendered himself unworthy. Justice drives out from 
Eden the man, who had cast himself out from the fa¬ 
vour of God. A wall reaching up to heaven, and im¬ 
moveable as the decree of the Eternal, prevents the 
possibility of return. The flaming sword of the cheru¬ 
bim bars all access to the tree of life. His labour, 
formerly his delight, must henceforward be accompani¬ 
ed with pain. The subject tribes throw off* their allegi¬ 
ance, and either shun, or threaten their lord. The ele¬ 
ments change their influence, and his fair domain be¬ 
comes a vast solitude. The sole partner of his former 
joys, now become the cause and the companion of his 
guilt, becomes also the companion of his wo. Mutual 
reflections and reproaches embitter and increase their 
common misery ; and stern death stares them in the 
face. 

But will God contend for ever, will he be always 
wroth ? Then “ the spirit should fail before him, and 
the souls which he had made.” Behold a dawn of hope 
arises, and the promise of the Most High saves from 
despair. The moment man becomes, and feels himself, 
a miserable offender, that moment is the gospel preach¬ 
ed unto him ; as the woman was first in' the transgres¬ 
sion, so from her the prospect of salvation arises ; and 
it ,is declared that “ the old serpent, who is the devil 
and Satan,” who had in deceiving her, destroyed her 
posterity, should by one who was peculiarly her 
posterity, be destroyed and slain. Thus they leave 
Eden, supported and cheered with the expectation of 
triumph over their bitter enemy, and of being restored 
at length to the favour of their offended God. To 
keep alive this hope, as well as to afford present relief 
from shame, at this period, it would appear, sacrifice 
was instituted. The same victim shed its blood, the 
type of atonement; and furnished its skin to clothe the 
naked, thereby presented th^mblem of a perfect 
righteousness, to cover 111 Setter the naked soul. 


LECT. II. HISTORY OF ADAM. 25 

And thus early, distinctly and unequivocally was Chris¬ 
tianity taught to mankind. 

In process of time, however Adam has the felicity 
of becoming a father, and enjoys the satisfaction of 
seeing the blessing pronounced upon him in his better 
state, notwithstanding his apostacy, taking effect.— 
Eve becomes the joyful mother, perhaps at one birth, 
of two sons, and the earth begins to be replenished. 
Behold the first parents of mankind exulting in affec¬ 
tions unknown, unfelt before; exulting in this fresh 
proof that God had not forgotten to be gracious. Be¬ 
hold the nuptial tie strengthened and confirmed; the 
voice of upbraiding and reproach turned to the lan¬ 
guage of gratulation, complacency, and love. 

Adam observes, with growing delight, his sons in¬ 
creasing in stature and wisdom. Stung with keen 
reflection upon the happiness which he had vilely 
thrown away, and the misery which he had entailed 
upon his hapless children, how would he exert himself 
to repair that loss! How forcibly inculcate, by his own 
fatal example, the obligations of God’s holy law ! With 
what gratitude lead them to the promised atonement! 
With what heartfelt delight infuse knowledge into their 
opening minds! 

Man is destined to labour from the beginning; and, 
for his punishment, guilty man must labour with the 
sweat of his brow. But all the punishments of Hea¬ 
ven in reality, and in the issue, are blessings. It is the 
privilege and the happiness of Adam and all his sons 
to be employed, though to weariness and fatigue. Ac¬ 
cordingly the heirs and possessors of the whole globe, 
as soon as they arrive at man’s estate, betake them¬ 
selves to the humble and necessary occupations of that 
simple state of human nature. “ Abel was a keeper 
of sheep, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.” 

But Adam, we find, has taught his sons to blend reli¬ 
gion with their secular employments; nay, to make 
their very emplovments the monitors and the means 
Vol. I. ' D 


26 


HISTORY OF ADAM. 


LECT. II. 


of religious worship. “ In process of time it came to 
pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an 
offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of 
the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof; and 
the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offering; but 
unto Caiii and his offering he had not respect,” Gen. iv. 
4, 5. And O, how early did the different passions and 
affections of the human mind discover themselves! 
Abel brings with his offering an humble, pious, and 
believing spirit. Cain approaches the altar of God 
with a proud, selfish, murderous heart. And melan 
choly it is to observe, the first quarrel in the world, the 
first human blood that was shed, were occasioned by 
religion, which is designed of God to be, and is in it¬ 
self, the dearest bond of union among men. 

An event now took place in Adam’s family by 
which every former grief must have been renewed and 
embittered; and, to his inexpressible dismay he finds 
himself a root of bitterness, of which all his branches 
must and do partake. Cain, incensed at the prefer¬ 
ence given to his brother’s offering, burning with envy 
and resentment, watches his opportunity, and finding 
himself alone with him in the field, puts Abel to 
death. Thus man becomes the executioner of the 
dreadful sentence of the divine law, upon man—bro¬ 
ther upon brother. What must have been the emo¬ 
tions of Adam’s soul when these sad news were brought, 
him! To lose a son, a pious promising son : almost 
an only one ; prematurely, unexpectedly, by the hand 
of his own brother! The one dead! the other worse 
than dead; a wretch unworthy to live ! How would 
his own transgression again stare him in the face ! 
How would he again accuse himself as the author of 
his own wretchedness, and the propagator of wo on wo 
to his posterity! The empire of Satan over this miser¬ 
able world would now seem confirmed; and the purpose 
of the divine grace would be apparently defeated. But 
God yet takes pity on fallen guilty man, being mindful 


LECT. II. 


HISTORY OF ADAM. 


21 


of his promise ; and Seth is given to supply the loss of 
Abel—Seth, in whose line the promise runs, and 
of whom as concerning the flesh Christ should come. 
And thus the divine interpositions always seasonably 
and suitably meet our necessities and wants. 

Adam’s own forfeited life is prolonged to many gene¬ 
rations, and he lives to see his posterity increased to a 
great multitude, inventing and cultivating the arts 
wfliich support, adorn, or comfort life. But the time 
approaches, at last, that he must die. Mercy flew as 
on the wings of a dove to his relief; justice walks with 
slow and steady steps to his punishment. By himself 
sin had entered into the world, and death must inevita¬ 
bly follow, and pass upon him and upon all men. He 
had seen the ghastly appearance of death, in the person 
of his murdered son ; he must now drink the bitter cup 
for himself. “ And all the days that Adam lived, were 
nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.” 

This is the end of all men, and the living should lay 
it to his heart. And thus at length decayed the fabric 
which God himself had reared ; thus “ the dust return¬ 
ed to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who 
gave it.” And thus must conclude the history of every 
life, though protracted to a thousand years, whether 
adorned with virtues, or sullied with vice, whether pass¬ 
ed with noise on the great theatre, or obscurely spent 
in the shade. To this complexion the wise and the 
beautiful; the brave and the good, as well as the simple 
and the homely, the timid and the vicious must come at 
last. “ Here the rich and the poor meet together; 
here the wicked cease from troubling and the weary 
are at rest.” 

The next Lecture, if God permit, will attempt to 
exhibit to you, the comparison and contrast of the 
first and second Adam: in the former of whom all 
died ; and by the latter, an elect world is made alive, 
and “ raised up together, and made to sit together in 
heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” 


28 


HISTORY OF ADAM, 


LECT. II. 


Let us endeavour to improve what has been said ; by 
learning habitually to acknowledge, adore and serve the 
great Author and Preserver of our being, who has 
lavished so much goodness upon us ; who adorned our 
nature with his own glorious image, pitied us in our 
low and lost estate, and has laid help for us in one who 
is mighty to save : and who, by the exceeding great 
and precious promises of the gospel, is aiming at ma¬ 
king us partakers of a divine nature, and deliveringus 
from that bondage of corruption, in which we are sunk 
by reason of sin. 

Let us learn, secondly, from the sad example of the 
first transgression, to rest contented with that state and 
condition which Providence has assigned us in life; to 
use only lawful means for bettering it; to make the 
known will of God the only rule of conduct; never to 
reason and tamper with temptation ; but to repel or flee 
from it at once; and to shun those as our worst enemies, 
who, on any occasion or pretence, would attempt to 
make us think lightly of the law of God. 

Let me take occasion, thirdly, from that institution 
which God designed for the completion of human hap¬ 
piness in a state of innocence, and for the mutual assist¬ 
ance and comfort of the sexes, in their fallen condition, 
to censure and condemn that spirit and practice of 
celibacy, which is one of the crying vices of our own 
age and country, and which is equally inimical to re¬ 
ligion, to good morals, to public spirit, and human 
comfort. He who says, or lives as if he thought, that 
it is “ good for man to be alone,” gives the lie to his 
Maker ; sins against the constitution of his nature, dis¬ 
honours his parents; defrauds another of one of the 
justest rights of humanity, and in a case too, where it 
is impossible so much as to complain; and exposes him¬ 
self to commit offences against society which are not to 
be mentioned in this place. In truth, celibacy is a vile 
compound of avarice and selfishness , which would. fain 
pass upon the world for prudence and self denial; and 


LECT. II. 


HISTORY OF ADAM. 


29 


the state of our own country at present, in this respect, 
looks as if a single state, as in Roman Catholic coun¬ 
tries, were established by a law, but that the laity, not 
the clergy, were bound by it. But alas ! I am only 
furnishing matter for a little conversation. There must 
be more virtue, religion, and good sense among the 
young men of the age, before this crying et il be re¬ 
medied. 

Finally, let us take the conclusion of the book of 
God, and the bright prospect which it discloses to our 
view, to support and cherish us under the melancholy 
scene exhibited to us in the beginning of it. “ Accord¬ 
ing to his promise we look for new heavens and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” “ And he 
that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make 
all things new,” Rev. xxi. 5. And he shewed me a 
pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out 
of the throne of God, and of the Lamb. In the 
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the 
the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve 
manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: 
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the 
nations. And there shall be no more curse ; but the 
throne of God and of the Lamb, shall be in it, and 
his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his 
face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. And 
there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, 
neither light of the sun : for the Lord God giveth them 
light, and they shall reign for ever,” Rev. xxii. 1-5. “ I 
beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could 
number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and 
tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 
and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our 
God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the 
throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts, and 
fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped 


30 


HISTORY OF ADAM. 


LECT. II. 


worshipped God ; saying, Amen : blessing, and glo¬ 
ry, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and 
power, and might be unto our God for ever and ever. 
Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying 
unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white 
robes ? And whence came they? And I said unto him, 
Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are 
they which came out of great tribulation, and have 
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of 
God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and 
he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, 
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for 
the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall 
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of 
waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes,” Rev. vii. 9—17. 

Thus, the mercy of God, and the blood of the 
Lamb, remove the guilt, and rectify the disorders of 
sin. Thus guilty fallen man is recovered and restored. 
Thus the evils recorded in the first pages of the Bible, 
are remedied and done away in that bright revelation of 
a world to come, which is open to us in the close of 
it. Thus is Adam, and his renewed offspring, con¬ 
ducted from a terrestrial paradise, where the tree of 
knowledge, of good and evil, .grew up among the 
trees of life, to the paradise of God, where no mixture 
of evil intrudes itself, where none but the trees of life, 
find a place. And thus the several parts of divine reve¬ 
lation explain, illustrate, strengthen, and confirm each 
other; and the whole taken together exhibiting through¬ 
out one great leading object, carrying on one great 
design, and accomplishing, at length, the one original 
purpose of the Eternal, is gloriously perfect. 


ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. 


LECTURE III. 

And so it is written , the first man Adam was made a 
living soul , the last Adam was made a quickening 

* spirit .—1 Cor. xv. 45. 

i HE frame of nature, the ways of Providence, and 
the work of redemption, mutually illuminate, explain, 
and support each other. The invisible things of God 
are clearly understood by the things which are made : 
the world is evidently upheld and governed by Him 
who made it at first: and the suspension of the laws 
of nature, and the special interpositions of Divine Pro¬ 
vidence, constitute the proof, that the gospel dispen¬ 
sation is from Him who has the universe under his 
controul, to continue or to change its appearance at his 
pleasure ; who has all hearts in his hand, and conse¬ 
quently, all events at his disposal. When we attempt 
to contemplate the providence of God, we immediately 
find it to be a system infinitely too vast for human ca¬ 
pacity to take in, too complex for our penetration to 
unfold, too deep and mysterious for our understanding 
to fathom. All that we can do is to consider the de-* 
tached parts of this majestic uhole, as they present 
themselves to our senses, or to our reason ; as they are 
transmitted to us in the history and experience of others, 
or as they are discovered to us by a revelation from 
heaven. Without the bible, it were utterly impossi¬ 
ble to give a tolerable account, much less one com¬ 
pletely satisfactory, of the origin of the world, or of 
the appearances of nature; of the events which are 




32 ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. III. 

past and are recorded, or those which are every day 
presenting themselves to our observation. But when 
reason vouchsafes to kindle her feeble lamp with fire 
from the altar of God, and to supply it continually with 
fresh oil from the sacred stores, what was formerly dark 
becomes clear; and what before seemed intricate and 
perplexed, is found to be in perfect order and harmo¬ 
ny ; and the dim and scattered fragments become both 
legible and intelligible. 

Nay, farther, the different parts of scripture itself, 
taken separately, and without connection, may seem 
to have less force, beauty and importance; but when 
brought together, like the magnet and the steel, they 
immediately attract each other, and unite ; like the 
scattered bones in the valley, bone coming toge¬ 
ther to his bone, there starts up a perfect man, nay, 
an exceeding great army. Type meeting the thing 
typified, prediction squaring with event, promise tal¬ 
lying exactly with accomplishment, scripture acquires 
a solidity which bids defiance to all created force : be- 
comes, in its own energetic language, “ as a hammer 
that breaketh the rock in pieces.” The persons exhi¬ 
bited, the events recorded, the scenes described, the 
institutions ordained in one age and state of the world, 
which were the shadows of good things to come, are 
not only instructive and interesting in themselves, but 
acquire a weight and importance which they possessed 
not before, when viewed in their relation to Him, to 
whom all the prophets give witness, and whose person, 
character, and work, are the fulfilling of all that was 
written of old time. 

The history of Adam ministers both pleasure and in¬ 
struction to us as men ; but Christians feel a peculiar 
interest in the perusal of it, by considering Adam “ as 
the figure of him who was to come.” 

Having, in the last Lecture, attempted a delinea¬ 
tion of the life of the first man, according as it is trans- 
mitted to us in the holy scriptures, we proceed in pro- 


L ECT. Ill, 


ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED* 33 


secution of our plan, to institute in a few particulars, a 
comparison between Adam and Christ; between the 
federal head and representative of the human race, and 
the covenant head and representative of the church* 
But first, let us observe wherein the first man differs 
from, and wherein he resembles all other men, who 
have descended from him by ordinary generation. 

First, in the manner of his production. Other men 
arrive at their maturity, such as it is, by slow and in¬ 
sensible degrees ; they make a progress through infan¬ 
cy, childhood, and youth, to man’s estate ; Adam was 
created perfect at once ; the moment he began to exist, 
he existed in all the dignity and strength of reason and 
intelligence. All other men are conceived in sin, and 
brought forth in iniquity ; he came from the hands of 
his Creator, holy and blameless, the Son of God. The 
mental powers of the wisest and most intelligent of 
mankind, his sons, are narrow and contracted; we 
know but a few things, and them imperfectly : the 
whole world of nature was an open volume to his un¬ 
derstanding. Since the fall, men are born into the world 
with the seeds of decay and dissolution in the consti¬ 
tution and frame of their nature ; but Adam was crea¬ 
ted incorruptible, immortal. The property and power 
of the greatest of his posterity is cramped and confi¬ 
ned ; limited by mountains, rivers, and seas ; liable to 
be encroached upon, disputed, invaded, taken away: 
but the dominion of the first man was uncontrolled, his 
authority indisputable, his property universal; the 
beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and whatsoever 
passeth through the paths of the sea, all, all were put 
under his feet. But Adam, fallen and lost, is just what 
all his hapless children are ; like them a slave to divers 
lusts and passions; like them liable to disease and 
death ; like them a prey to sorrow, fear, and remorse ; 
like them a child of wrath, an heir of hell; and like 
them, to be recovered, restored, re-established, only by 
the mercy of God, and through the atoning blood of a 
Vol. I. E # 


34 ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. III. 

Saviour: and how that Saviour was typified or held 
forth to the world, by the person, character and relative 
connections of Adam, is to be the subject of the re¬ 
maining part of this discourse. 

Adam, perhaps, was not himself aware, that he was 
in this respect fulfilling the designs of Providence. We 
know that many others exhibited striking types of the 
promised Saviour, in their persons, offices, and actions, 
without being conscious that such honourable distinc¬ 
tion was conferred upon them ; and Moses, the inspi¬ 
red author of the history of the first man, no where 
hints that he considered Adam, or that Adam consider¬ 
ed himself in this light. But to us the matter is put be¬ 
yond a doubt, by one who wrote also under the inspira¬ 
tion of God, the great apostle of the Gentiles, who 
informs us, that this first man, into whose nostrils God 
breathed + he breath of life, and who thereby became a 
living soul, was “ the type or figure of him that was to 
come,” Rom. v. 14—and in many other places in his 
epistles, shews us wherein the resemblance consists. 
Following him, therefore, and the other sacred writers 
of the New Testament, as our guides, we observe, 
First, that Adam typified Christ, as being in a pecu¬ 
liar sense the Son of God. The evangelist Luke, in 
tracing the natural pedigree of our Saviour, ascends 
step by step from Son to Father, till he comes to the 
first progenitor of all, “ who was,” says he, “ the Son 
of God:” that is, his immediate offspring, deriving his 
existence without any interposition, from the great 
source of being. And what saith the scripture con¬ 
cerning the Messiah ? “ I will declare the decree : the 
Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day 
have I begotten thee,” Psalm ii. 7—and “ when he 
bringeth in the first begotten into the world,” he saith, 
“ And let all the angels of God worship him,” Heb. i. 6. 

As the manner in which Adam was produced, was 
Dew and unexampled, so the conception and birth of 
t Christ were “anew thing in the earth:” the former 
* created of dust from the ground, the latter formed by 


DECT. III. ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. 35 

the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of a virgin* 
But Adam the son of God, though made in the likeness 
of his Creator, expressed that divine image only exter¬ 
nal ly, as the coin exhibits the image and impress of the 
sovereign : whereas Christ the Son of God displayed 
u the brightness of his Father’s glory,” and bore “ the 
express image of his person.” Adam the son of God 
was produced in time, on the sixth day of the creation, 
after all the other works of God were finished : but 
Christ the Son of God, the eternal wisdom of the ever¬ 
lasting Father, thus speaks of himself, “ The Lord 
possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his 
works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the 
beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were 
no depths, I was brought forth : when there were no 
fountains abounding with water. Before the moun¬ 
tains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth : 
while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, 
nor the highest part of the dust of the world: when he 
prepared the heavens I was there : when he set a com¬ 
pass upon the face of the depth: when he established 
the clouds above : when he strengthened the fountains 
of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that 
the waters should not pass his commandment: when 
he appointed the foundations of the earth : then I was 
by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily 
his delight, and rejoicing always before him : rejoicing 
in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were 
with the sons of men,” Prov. viii. 22-31. 

Secondly, the constitution of Adam’s nature prefi¬ 
gured the person of Christ. In Adam, an immaterial 
immortal spirit was united to a material earthly body* 
to constitute one perfect, living man ; in Christ, the hu¬ 
man nature was united to the divine, to constitute one 
perfect life-giving Saviour. The one a mystery of na¬ 
ture, the other a mystery of grace. The one, though 
incomprehensible, yet certainly known by every man to 
be true; the other, though incomprehensible, yet by 
every Christian believed to be true. 


36 ABAM ANB^CHRIST COMPARED. EEC T. III. 

Thirdly, the paternal relation which Adam bears to 
all the human race, beautifully represents to us Jesus 
the Son of God, as the spiritual father of all them that 
believe. The first man, Adam, says the text, was 
made “ a living soul,’ 3 that is, the source of a natural 
life, to them who had it not before ; the last Adam was 
made “ a quickening spirit,” that is, the giver and re¬ 
storer of a spiritual and divine life, to those who having 
lost it, “ were dead in trespasses and sins.” The wa¬ 
ter in the conduit will rise to the level of its fountain, 
but can never mount higher. Thus Adam can commu¬ 
nicate only what he was, and what he had himself; be¬ 
ing therefore of the earth, earthy, he could only propa¬ 
gate an earthly existence ; but the second man, being 
the Lord from heaven, can, and does, make his spiritu¬ 
al offspring “ partakers of a divine nature.” As every 
man, upon coming into the w'orld of nature., the instant 
he draws the breath of life, bears the image of the first 
man whom God created ; so from Jesus Christ, proge¬ 
nitor of them who believe, all who are regenerated, or* 
born into the world of grace, derive their spiritual ex¬ 
istence, and bear the image of him, from whom the 
whole family of heaven and earth is named. But 
Adam is the remote, not the immediate father of our 
flesh; whereas Christ is the immediate source of spirit¬ 
ual light and life to all those “ who are born, not of 
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, - nor of the will of 
man, but of God,” John i. 13. 

Fourthly, Adam and Christ bear a striking resem¬ 
blance in respect of dominion and sovereignty . When 
God had created man, “ he blessed him, and said unto 
him, Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over 
the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that mo- 
veth upon the earth.” “ Thou hast made him,” says 
the psalmist, “ a little lower than the angels ; and hast 
crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest 
him to have dominion over the works of thy hands : 
thou hast put all things under his feet. All sheep and 
oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field ; the fowl of the 


DECT. III. ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. 3? 

air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth 
through the paths of the seas,” Psalm viii. 5-8. And 
Christ the Lord, even in the days of his flesh, while he 
yet dwelt among men, not only possessed but exerci¬ 
sed an unlimited authority over the whole world of na¬ 
ture, over things visible, and things invisible. The 
prince of the power of the air fled at his command: the 
boisterous elements heard and obeyed his word: dis¬ 
ease and death, and the grave fulfilled his pleasure. 
How much more justly after his resurrection from the 
dead, when “ declared the Son of God with power,” 
could he say of himself, all power is given unto me, in 
heaven and in earth !” and the apostle also, concern¬ 
ing him, “ God hath highly exalted him, and given him 
a name, which is above every name ; that at the name 
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, 
and things in earth, and things under the earth : and 
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” Phil. ii. 9-11. 
We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the an¬ 
gels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and ho¬ 
nour. “ And he must reign till he hath put all his ene¬ 
mies under his feet.” The sovereignty of Adam, 
however, was derived, dependant, limited, and might be 
forfeited : and his history, and our own experience feel¬ 
ingly assure us, “ that, being in honour he continued 
not;” that the crown is fallen from his head, and the 
sceptre dropt from his hand. His derived authority 
was withdrawn by him who bestowed it; his depend¬ 
ant power was checked and curbed, because he had 
abused it; his limited empire was reduced to nothing, 
because he presumed to ^ftect equality with his Creator; 
and, having received dominion under a condition, fail¬ 
ing in the condition, he forfeits his throne. But the sove¬ 
reignty of Christ is inherent, independent, unlimited, 
and everlasting. “ Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 
O God, is for ever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness 
is the sceptre of thy kingdom;” and the Son himself 
saith, « X lay down my fife, that I might take it again. 


38 


ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. Ill, 


I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, 
and I have power to take it again.” “ And I give un¬ 
to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither 
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Fa¬ 
ther, which gave them me, is greater than all: and 
none is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 
I and my Father are one.” John x. 28, 30. 

Again, the sacred and pure matrimonial union esta¬ 
blished in paradise between Adam and Eve, was in¬ 
tended to prefigure the mysterious union, the pure and 
reciprocal affection of Christ and his church : in which 
also we follow the apostle of the Gentiles in his epistle 
to the Ephesians, Chap. v. verse 23—“ for the husband 
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of 
the church ; and he is the Saviour of the body. There¬ 
fore, as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives 
be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, 
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, 
and gave himself for it: that he might sanctify and 
cleanse it, with the washing of water by the word; 
that he might present it to himself a glorious church, 
not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing : but that 
it should be holy and without blemish. We are mem¬ 
bers of his body : of his flesh and of his bones. For 
this cause, shall a man leave his father and mother, and 
shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one 
flesh. This is a great mystery ; but I speak concern¬ 
ing Christ and the church.” 

Finally, the whole tenor of scripture teaches us to 
consider Adam, the first of men, as the covenant head 
and representative of all his posterity, according to the 
order and course of nature ; apd Jesus Christ the Lord, 
as the federal head and representative of all his redeem¬ 
ed, according to the election of grace. “ For since by 
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of 
the dead.” “ For as in Adam all die, even so in 
Christ shall all be made alive.” “ By one man sin 
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death 
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” And 


LECT. III. ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. 


39 


“ if by one man’s offence, death reigned by one, much 
more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the 
gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus 
Christ. Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment 
came upon all men to condemnation : even so by the 
righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men 
unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobe¬ 
dience, many were made sinners : so by the obedience 
of one, shall many be made righteous,” Rom. v. 
17-19. 

But whatever admits of comparison, by bearing re¬ 
semblance, must likewise admit of contrast, on account 
of dissimilitude: for what so like, as to be undistin- 
guishable ? What two persons are so much the same 
as not to exhibit, to the least discerning eye, character - 
istical marks of difference ? And indeed the very par¬ 
ticulars wherein the first and second Adam coincide, 
evince the infinite superiority of the one above the 
other, as well as those circumstances which could not 
possibly be in common between them. 

Adam was assaulted of the wicked one, by a slight 
temptation ; yielded, and fell: Christ was tempted of 
the devil, by repeated, vigorous, and well-conducted at¬ 
tacks ; resisted to the last, and overcame. Adam in 
paradise became guilty, and miserable, and liable to 
death: Christ passed through a corrupted world, lived 
in the midst of a sinful and adulterous generation, but 
preserved unspotted innocence ; “he did no sin, neither 
was guile found in his lips.” Adam by one offence be¬ 
came guilty of the whole law, poured contempt upon 
it, and transmitted his crime, together with the punish¬ 
ment of it, to all mankind : Christ, by a complete obe¬ 
dience, “ magnified the law, and made it honourable,” 
approved himself unto God, and conveys the merit of 
his obedience and sufferings to all them that believe, for 
their justification and acceptance. Adam, aspiring to 
a condition superior to that in which his Maker placed 
him, not only failed to obtain what he aimed at, but 
also lost what he had ; desiring to be as God, to know 


40 


ADAM AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. III. 


good and evil, he acquired indeed the fatal knowledge 
of evil, but lost the knowledge of good which he al¬ 
ready possessed; and sinking himself, drags down a 
devoted world with him : whereas Christ, for the vo¬ 
luntary abasement of himself, is exalted to “ the right 
hand of the Majesty on high,” “ for the suffering of 
death, is crowned with glory and honour,” and “ lifted 
up on the cross, draws all men unto him.” The mo¬ 
ment we exist, in virtue of our relation to the first 
Adam, we die for an offence we could not commit; so, 
we no sooner become united to the second Adam 
through faith in his blood, than we become partakers of 
a spiritual and divine nature, and heirs of everlasting 
life, in virtue of a righteousness not our own. ;< Being 
justified by faith, we have peace with God, through 
our Lord Jesus Christ: and rejoice in hope of the glo¬ 
ry of God.” In Adam we are condemned for one sin : 
in Christ, we are justified from many offences. The 
history of Adam represents to 11 s a garden with one. 
tree of life amidst many that were good for food, and 
near to one that was pregnant with death : the Revela- 
lation of Jesus Christ exhibits to us a paradise, all 
whose trees are of one sort; whose fruit is life-giving, 
whose very leaves are salutary; trees of life which 
know no decay, never disappoint the gatherer’s hope, 
never feel the approach of winter. 

Genesis presents to our trembling, astonished sight, 
“ cherubims and a flaming sword, which turn every 
way to keep the way of the tree of life.” The Apo¬ 
calypse discloses to our delighted eyes, angels minister¬ 
ing to them who are the heirs of salvation; and our 
ravished ears hear these glad accents bursting from 
amidst the excellent glory. “To him that overcometh 
will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the 
midst of the paradise of God.” Let him that is athirst 
come: and whosoever will, let him take the water of 
life freely.” The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
with you all. Amen. 


HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. 


LECTURE IV. 

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacri¬ 
fice than Cain, by which he obtained witness, that he 
was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it 
he, being dead, yet speaketh. —Heb. xi. 4. 

A. STATE of innocence was apparently of short 
duration. The history of it contains but a very few 
particulars. To plunge the human race into guilt and 
ruin was the work only of a moment: but to re¬ 
store mankind to life and happiness, employed depth 
of design to contrive; length of time to mature and 
unfold ; and irresistible force to execute. The history 
of the world is, in truth, the history of redemption. 
For all the dealings of Divine Providence with men, 
directly or by implication, immediately or remotely, 
point out and announce a Saviour. To our first parents, 
immediately upon the fall, a promise was given, in ge¬ 
neral, indeed, but not in obscure terms, of deliverance 
and recovery, by one who should be in a peculiar and 
proper sense, “ the seed of the woman.” And it is 
far from being unreasonable to suppose, that the skins 
employed to cover the shame of our guilty first parents, 
were taken from victims slain by divine appointment; 
who by the shedding of their blood were to typify the 
great atonement, styled in scripture “ the Lamb slain 
from the foundation of the world.” But admitting 
this to be merely a fanciful conjecture, we have the 
authority of God himself to affirm, that the immediate 
Vol. L F 




42 


HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. LECT. IV. 


descendants of Adam offered such sacrifices, and look¬ 
ed in faith and hope to such a propitiation : “ For by- 
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice 
than Cain, by which he obtained witness, that he was 
righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he, 
being dead, yet speaketh.” The history, character, 
and conduct of these two brothers, from the materials 
furnished us in scripture, are to be the subject of this 
Lecture. 

Adam, with the partner of his guilt and of his future 
fortunes, being expelled from Eden, and tumbled from 
all his native honours, enters on the possession of a globe 
which w as cursed for his sake. He feels that he is fallen 
from a spiritual and divine life, from righteousness and 
innocence; that he has become liable to death ; nay, 
by the very act of disobedience, that he really died to 
goodness and happiness. But the sentence itself which 
condemns him, gives him full assurance, that his natu¬ 
ral life, though forfeited, was to be reprieved ; that he 
should live to labour; to earn his bread with the sweat 
of his brow ; and not only so, but that he should be the 
means of communicating that natural life to others : for 
that Eve should become a mother, though the pain and 
sorrow 7 of conception and child-bearing were to be 
greatly multiplied. In process of time she accord¬ 
ingly brings forth a son ; and pain and sorrow are no 
more remembered, for joy that a man child is born into 
the world. What she thought and felt upon this occa¬ 
sion, we learn from what she said, and from the name 
she gave her new 7 bom son. With a heart overflowing 
with gratitude, she looks up to God, who had not only 
spared and prolonged her life, but made her the joyful 
mother of a living child; and who in multiplying her 
sorrow, had much more abundantly multiplied her 
comfort. Ease that succeeds anguish is doubly relished 
and enjoyed. Kindness from one whom we have 
offended, falls with a weight pleasingly oppressive upon 
the mind. Some interpreters, and not without reason, 


LECT. IV. HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. 


4S 


suppose, that she considered the son given her, as the 
promised seed, who should bruise the head of the ser¬ 
pent ; and they read her self-gratulatory exclamation 
thus, I have gotten the man from the Lord.” And 
how soothing to the maternal heart must have been the 
hope of deliverance and relief for herself, and triumph 
over her bitter enemy, by means of the son of her own 
bowels! How fondly does she dream of repairing the 
> ruin which her frailty had brought upon her husband 
and family, by this “first-born of many brethren!” 
The name she gives him signifies “ possessed,” or “ a 
possession.” She flatters herself that she has now got 
something she can call her own; and even the loss 
of paradise seems compensated by a dearer inheri¬ 
tance. If there be a portion more tenderly cherish¬ 
ed, or more highly prized than another, it is that of 
which David speaks, Psalm cxxvii. 3. 5. u Lo, children 
are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb 
is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty 
man ; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man 
that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be 
ashamed : but they shall speak with the enemies in the 
gate.” But O, blind to futurity, with how many sor¬ 
rows was this “ possession,” so exultingly triumphed 
in, about to pierce the fond maternal breast! How 
unlike are the forebodings and wishes of parental ten¬ 
derness and partiality, to the destinations of Provi¬ 
dence, and the discoveries which time brings to light! 
“ And she again bare his brother Abel.” The word 
denotes vanity , or a breath of air. Was this name 
given him through the unreasonable prejudice and 
unjust preference of a partial mother? Or was it an 
unintentional prediction of the brevity of his life, and 
of the lamentable manner of his death ? But the mate¬ 
rials of which life is composed, are not so much its 
days, and months, and years, as works of piety, and 
mercy, and justice, or their opposites. He dies in full 
maturity, who has lived to God and eternity, at what- 


44 


HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. LECT. IV. 


ever period, and in whatever manner he is cut off. 
This life is short, though extended to a thousand years, 
which is disfigured with vice, devoted to the pursuits of 
time merely, and at the close of which the unhappy 
man is found unreconciled to God. 

Behold this pair of brothers, then growing in wis¬ 
dom and in stature ; gladdening their parents’ hearts. 
They arrive at the age of reason, of vigour, of activity ; 
they feel the law of God and natu e upon them. Though 
the heirs of empire, they must labour for their sub¬ 
sistence.—“ Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was 
a tiller of the ground,” Gen. iv. 2. The earth will 
no longer spontaneously yield her increase. The clods 
must be turned up, and the seed must be cast into the 
furrow, through the care, foresight, and industry of 
man, else in vain will the heavens shed their influence ; 
and in vain will the blessing of the Most High be 
expected. That cattle may furnish either the fleece for 
clothing, or milk for food, they must be protected from 
inclement seasons, and ravenous beasts ; they must 
be conducted to proper pasture, and provided with 
water from the brook. And this is the origin of the 
first employments which occupied our elder brethren 
in a state of nature. And here it is observable, that 
the different dispositions of the brothers may be tra¬ 
ced in the occupations which they followed. Pious 
and contemplative, Abel tends his flock ; his profession 
affords more retirement, and more leisure, for medi¬ 
tation ; and the very nature of his charge forms him 
to vigilance, to providence, and to sympathy. His 
prosperity and success seem to flow immediately, and 
only, from the hand of God. Cain, more worldly, 
and selfish, betakes himself to husbandry; a work 
of greater industry and art; the necessary implements 
of which suppose the prior invention of sundry branches 
of manufacture; and in whose operations, and their 
effects, art blending with nature, would claim at least 
her full proportion of merit and importance. But 


LECT. IV. HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. 


45 


it is not the occupation which has merit or demerit; the 
man who exercises it is the object of censure or of 
praise. It is not the husbandry of Cain, but wicked 
Cain the husbandman that we blame; it is not the 
shepherd’s life, but good Abel the shepherd that we 
esteem. “ And in process of time it came to pass, 
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering 
unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the 
firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof; and the 
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering,” Gen. 
iv. 3, 4. What is any condition, any employment, 
unconnected with, unsupported, unadorned by reli¬ 
gion ! How wretched a creature is the mere citizen of 
this world, whose views, pursuits, and enjoyments, all 
terminate in time ! The man who sees not his comforts 
and his successes as coming from the hand of God; and 
w hose heart rises not in gratitude to the giver of all 
good, is a stranger to the choicest ingredients in the cup 
of prosperity. But can God, the great God, stand in 
need of such things as these ? “ Is not every beast of 
the forest his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills ?” 
Yes, verily : religion w as not instituted for the sake of 
God, but of man : for man cannot be profitable to his 
Maker, as he that is wise, and good, and pious, may be 
unto himself. Religion is pressed upon us by the very 
law of our nature : and it is absolutely necessary to 
human happiness. 

Cain observes the fruits of the earth arrive at their 
maturity. He know^s that all his care and skill, with¬ 
out the interposition of Heaven, could not have pro¬ 
duced a single grain of com. He had observed the 
seed which he cast into the ground, dying, in order to 
be quickened ; he saw from putrefaction a fresh stem 
springing up, and bearing thirty, sixty, a hundred 
fold ; and a power more than human conducting this 
wonderful progress. Of the first and best, therefore, 
he brings an offering unto the Lord; not to enrich his 
Maker, but to do honour to himself. Abel’s flocks and 


46 HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. LECT. IV. 

herds likewise, through the blessing of the Almighty, 
increase and multiply ; he adores the hand that makes 
his wealth; and presents the firstlings of his flock to 
the Lord. But, alas ! his offering, in order to be ac¬ 
cepted must bleed and die. The innocent lamb which 
he had tended with so much care, had fed from his 
hand, had carried in his bosom, must by his hand be 
slain, must find no compassion from the tender shep¬ 
herd’s heart, when piety demands him—must be con¬ 
sumed to ashes before his eyes. “ And the Lord had 
respect unto Abel, and to his offering. But unto Cain 
and to his offering he had not respect.” What made 
the difference ? Not the nature and quality of the things 
offered, but the dispositions of the offerers. Our text 
illustrates and explains the passage in Genesis, “ By 
faitii Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacri¬ 
fice than Cain.” Cain came before God as a righte¬ 
ous man ; Abel as a sinner. Cain brought an offering 
of acknowledgment; Abel a propitiatory sacrifice. 
Cain’s gift bespeaks a grateful heart; Abel’§ a contrite 
s} irit. Cain eyes the goodness of God; Abel his 
mercy and long-suffering. Cain says, “ Lord, I thank 
thee for all thy benefits tow ards meAbel, “ Lord, 
I am unworthy of the least of thy favours.” Cain 
rejoices in the world as a goodly portion; Abel, by 
faith discerns and expects a better inheritance. Cain 
approaches, trusting in an imperfect righteousness 
of his own, and departs unjustified; Abel draws 
nigh, depending on the perfect righteousness of a 
Mediator, and goes away righteous in the sight of 
God. 

In w T hat manner the divine approbation and displea¬ 
sure were expressed, we are not informed: whether 
by a celestial fire seizing and consuming the one offer¬ 
ing, and leaving the other untouched; or by a voice 
from heaven, declaratory of the mind of God. But 
we are assured that it was sufficiently notified to the 
parties themselves. On Abel, undoubtedly, it had 


LECT. IV. HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. 


47 


the effect which a sense of the favour of God will always 
produce upon a good mind, a mind which esteems the 
loving kindness of the Most High more than life ; sweet 
complacency and composure of spirit, “ the peace of 
God which passeth all understanding.” Oil Cain it 
produced a very different effect; he was very wroth, 
“ and his countenance fell.” Men are often angry 
when they ought to be grieved : and remorse for their 
own unworthiness frequently becomes resentment 
against their innocent neighbours; and not seldom it 
changes into sullenness, insolence, and rebellion against 
God himself. Observe the goodness and condescen¬ 
sion of God; he vouchsafes to reason with, to warn, 
and to admonish this peevish, petulant man; and 
gives encouragement to a better temper and behaviour. 
“ If thou doest well, shalt not thou be accepted ?” 
He promises to support him in his right of primogeni¬ 
ture, unworthy as he was—“ To thee shall be his de¬ 
sire, and thou shalt rule over him:” but at the same 
time he points out the danger of persevering in impiety 
and of prosecuting his resentments—“ If thou doest 
not well sin lieth at the door.”—But the soul, of which 
envy, malice and revenge have taken possession, is lost 
to the better feelings of human nature; is deaf to re¬ 
monstrance, and insensible of kindness. The inno¬ 
cent are simple and unsuspicious; intending no evil, 
they fear none. Cain it would appear from the letter 
of the narration, and the scene where the action is laid, 
decoyed his brother into solitude, under the mask of 
familiarity and friendship; “ he talked with him,” they 
were in the field. What a horrid aggravation of his 
guilt! A deed of violence! Murder ! A good man’s, 
a brother’s murder! Deliberately resolved on, craftily 
conducted, remorselessly executed ! Was man’s first 
disobedience a slight evil, which introduced such des¬ 
perate wickedness into the world ; which transformed 
man into the most savage of beasts! “He rose up 
against Abel his brother, and slew him.” Now was 


48 


HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. LECT. IV. 


death for the first time seen ; and seen in his ghastliest 
form ! Death before the time ! The death of piety and 
goodness! Death inflicted by violence and preceded 
by pain! Death embittered to the sufferer by reflect¬ 
ing on the hand from which it came ; the hand of a 
brother, the hand which should have supported and 
protected him, which should have barred the door 
against the murderer, not borne the fatal instrument 
itself! At length the feeble eyes close in peace; and 
the pain of bleeding wounds, and the pangs of frater¬ 
nal cruelty are felt no more. “ The dust returns to 
the earth as it was, and the spirit unto God who gave 
it.” The spirit returns to God, to see his unclouded 
face, formerly seen through the medium of natural 
objects, and of religious services; to understand, and 
to enjoy the great mystery of the atonement, hitherto 
known only in a figure. Happy Abel, thus early deliv¬ 
ered from the sins and sorrows of a vain world ! And 
thus death, at whatever season, in whatever form and 
from whatever quarter it comes, is always unspeakably 
great gain to a good man. 

Such was the life, and such the untimely end of 
“righteous Abel;” for so our blessed Lord styles him, 
who fell a martyr to religion. The remainder of Cain’s 
history ; the short view given us of the character of his 
descendants, together with the birth of Seth, given and 
appointed of God to preserve the sacred line, to pro¬ 
pagate the holy seed, in place of Abel, whom Cain 
slew; will, with the permission of God, furnish matter 
for another Lecture. Let us conclude the present, by 
setting up the character of Abel as an object of esteem, 
and a pattern for imitation. 

Faith in God, and in a Saviour to come; and the 
righteousness which is of God by faith, are the leading 
and striking features of this portrait;” and by these, 
“ being dead, he yet speaketh ;” or if you choose to 
adopt the marginal reading, “ is yet spoken of.” It is 
a desirable thing to enjoy a good name while we live, 


LECT. IV. HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL* 


49 


and to be remembered with kindness after we are dead. 
But reputation is the gift of others; it is often gained 
without merit, and lost without a crime. Whereas 
true goodness is a real, unalienable possession; it 
cleaves to us in death ; it accompanies us to the world 
of spirits; it instructs the world while we live; it 
speaks from the grave ; it shines in the presence of God 
in heaven. Here, my friends, it is lawful and honour¬ 
able to aspire. Permit others to get before you in 
wealth or in fame; grudge not to your neighbour the 
superiority in wit, or strength, or beauty: but yield 
to none in piety, in purity, in faith, in charity; aim 
at the highest honours of the Christian name; be hum¬ 
ble, and be every thing. 

Salvation, men and brethren, has from the begin¬ 
ning, flowed in one and the same channel. There 
was not one gospel to the antidiluvian, and another 
to the postidiluvian world ; one method of redemption 
to the Jews, and another to the Gentiles; but “ Je¬ 
sus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for 
ever.” Abel, Abraham, Moses, David, Simeon, Paul, 
and all who have been, or shall be saved, lived and 
died in the faith of Christ. “ Neither is there salvation 
in any other ; for there is none other name under hea¬ 
ven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” 
Acts, iv. 12. This therefore is the great commandment 
of God to us in these days of meridian light and glory, 
namely, “ that we should believe on the name of his 
Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.” 

Was Abel a type of Christ, as well as a believer in 
him ? The scripture indeed saith it not expressly ; but 
surely, without straining, we may discern some striking 
marks of resemblance. What saith Moses ? “ Abel 
was a keeper of sheep.” What saith Christ? “ I am 
the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life 
for the sheep.” What did Abel? “ He through faith 
brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat 
thereof, an offering unto the Lord.” What did Christ ? 
Vol. I. G 


50 HISTORY OF CAIN AND ABEL. LECT. IV. 

“ Through the Eternal Spirit he offered himself with¬ 
out spot to God.” Were Abel’s days cut short by the 
hand of violence ? So “ Messiah, the Prince, was cut 
off, but not for himself.” Was Abel hated of, and 
slain by his brother ? Christ “ was despised and reject¬ 
ed.” of his own, and died by the treachery of a familiar 
friend in whom he trusted, and by the cruelty of those 
who were his brethren according to the flesh. Did the 
blood of Abel cry to God from the ground, for ven¬ 
geance on the head of him who shed it ? O, with what 
oppressive weight has the blood of Jesus fallen, and 
how heavily does it still lie on the heads of them, and 
of their children, who with wicked hands crucified and 
slew him! Could the blood of Abel atone for his sin ? 
No: but the blood of Christ cleanseth him, and every 
believer, from all sin. Yet Abel died as a righteous 
man ; Christ as a sinner. Abel a guilty creature, was 
justified and accepted through an imputed righteous¬ 
ness; Christ, who was “holy, harmless, undefiled, 
and separated from sinners,” was condemned and buf¬ 
fered, because “ the Lord laid on him the iniquity of 
us all.” Abel suffered death once for all; the body of 
Christ was “ offered once for all,” and by that one 
sacrifice, “ he hath for ever perfected them that are 
sanctified.” But we pursue the similitude and the con¬ 
trast no farther. May God bless what has been said. 
Amen. And to his holy name be praise. 




HISTORY OF CAIN. 


LECTURE V. 

For this is the message that ye heardfrom the beginnings 
that we should love one another . Not as Cain , who 
was of that wicked one , and slew his brother . And 
wherefore slezv he him ? Because his own works were 
evil, and his brother's righteous .—I John iii. 11 , 12. 

It is a pleasant task to attend the footsteps of the 
wise and good, through the thorny maze of human 
life : to draw nigh with the devout to the altar of God : 
to learn patience of the meek, compassion of the mer¬ 
ciful, and kindness of the generous : to love and ad¬ 
mire them in life, and to regret them in death. But ah! 
how painful to trace the progress, and to mark the 
appearances of “ the carnal mind, which is enmity 
against God,” and hatred to man from the first con¬ 
ception of an ill design, to the final execution of a deed 
of horror ! “ Lust, having conceived, bringeth forth sin, 
and sin when finished bringeth forth death.” Never¬ 
theless, it is highly important, that even objects of 
detestation should be placed before the eyes of men; 
that sin should be viewed in her native loathsomeness 
and deformity, to excite, if possible, aversion and dis¬ 
gust. To direct men in the journey of life, it is neces¬ 
sary to erect beacons, the admonition of hidden dan¬ 
gers and death ; as well as to set up indexes, to point 
out the right path. The two first men who were bom 
into the world, are designed of Providence to answer 
this valuable purpose, to those who should come after 
them. Abel, though dead, continues to instruct men 




52 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 


LECT. V. 


in the excellency, amiableness, and importance of true 
religion; Cain stands to all generations, a fearful 
example of ungovernable passion hurrying a man on 
to blood, and plunging him into despair. Having con¬ 
sidered the former as a pattern for imitation, we are 
now to consider the history of the latter, as affording 
a useful and seasonable warning to look to ourselves, 
“ lest we also be hardened, through the deceitfulness of 
sin.’ 7 

Cain has now accomplished his bloody purpose : His 
envied, hated rival, is now removed out of sight: the 
virtues of his brother no longer reproach him ; Abel 
stands no more in the way, to intercept the rays of the 
favour of God or of man. Is he not now then at rest ? 
No eye saw him commit the murder. And if it were 
known, who shall call him to account? No eye saw him! 
Yes, the eye of Cain saw him : yes, the eye of God saw 
him : hence the whole earth becomes all eye to behold 
him, all tongue to accuse him. Who shall call him to 
account ? That shall Cain; his own conscience shall 
avenge the murder : that shall the hand of every man, 
fly whither he will; for every man is concerned to 
destroy him, who makes light of the life of another: 
that shall God, from whom he cannot fly. Revenge, 
like “a devilish engine, 77 recoils on him that employs 
it; or, like the flame of Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, 
catches hold of, and destroys the ministers of ven¬ 
geance, not the objects of it. 

The mournful tidings must soon reach the ears of the 
afflicted parents. What were now thy feelings, Eve, 
when he, who was expected to be a Saviour, turns out 
a destroyer ? Which is the heavier affliction, a son pre¬ 
maturely and violently cut off: or a son living to pre¬ 
sent an object of horror and detestation to their eyes ? 
A pious child dead, is beyond all controversy, a posses¬ 
sion infinitely preferable to a profligate alive. Alas i 
what shall they do ? To overlook the murder, is to 
become partakers in the guilt of it; to punish the mur- 


EECT. V. 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 


53 


tlerer, as justice demands, is to render themselves child¬ 
less. Ah! how do the difficulties and distresses of 
their fallen estate increase upon the guilty men every 
day ! The cause which was too hard for Adam to deter¬ 
mine, God takes into his own hand. “ And the Lord said 
unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother ?” Gen. iv. 9. 
Offences committed in secret, and offenders, whose 
power and station bid defiance to earthly tribunals, fall 
properly under the immediate cognizance of Heaven. 
Behold the throne is set, and the judgment opened. 
How meek and gentle is God with this murderer ! He 
would draw confession from his mouth, not as a snare, 
but as an indication of contrition. The end which God 
has in view, in making inquiry after blood, is, not the 
conviction and punishment; but the conviction, pardon 
and recovery of the criminal. What a question ! “ Where 
is thy brother?” put by God himself to the wretch whose 
hands were yet reeking with his blood! What heart, 
hardened through sin, dictated the reply, “ I know not, 
am I my brother’s keeper?” Is this the eldest hope of 
the first human pair ? Is he not rather the first-born of 
that accursed being, who is a liar and a murderer from 
the beginning? “ I know not:” Falsehood must be 
called in to cover that wickedness which we are asha¬ 
med or afraid to avow. “ Am I my brother’s keeper ?” 
How dreadful is the progress of vice ! How crime leads 
on to crime ! Envy begets malice; malice inspires 
revenge; revenge hurries on to blood; blood-guilti¬ 
ness seeks shelter under untruth, and untruth attempts 
to support itself by insolence, assurance, and pride : 
and haughtiness of spirit, is but one step from destruc¬ 
tion. Ah, little do men know, when they indulge one 
evil thought, or venture on one unwarrantable action, 
what the issue is to be ! They vainly flatter themselves 
it is in their power to stop when they please. But 
passion, like a fiery and unmanageble steed in the 
hands of an unskilful rider, by one inconsiderate stroke 
of the spur, may be excited to such a pitch of fury, as 


54 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 


IECT. V. 


no skill can tame, no force restrain ; but both horse and 
rider are hurried together down the precipice, and pe¬ 
rish in their rage. 

The milder and more indirect admonitions and re¬ 
proofs of God’s word and providence, being misunder¬ 
stood, slighted, or defied, justice is concerned, and 
necessity requires, to speak in plainer language, and to 
bring the charge directly home: and that severity is 
most awful, which was preceded by gentleness, patience, 
and long-suffering. God at length awakes to ven¬ 
geance ; u And he said, What hast thou done ? The 
voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the 
ground,” Gen. iv. 10. And mark how every creature 
arms itself in the cause of God. The dead earth is 
represented as acquiring sensibility, and refusing to 
cover blood: the silent ground becomes vocal, and 
loudly accuses the criminal; the stones of the field are 
at war with him who has made God his foe : nay, the 
earth is made not only the accuser, but the punisher of 
the guilty; for this new transgression it falls under a 
heavier curse. Adam for his offence was doomed to 
eat bread with the sweat of his brow; was doomed to 
labour, yet to labour in hope of increase; but Cain 
shall spend his strength for naught and in vain. The 
ground shall present greater rigidity to the hand of cul¬ 
tivation : shall cast out the seed thrown into it, or con¬ 
sume and destroy it; or at best produce a lean and 
scanty crop. Cain and the earth are to be mutually 
cursed to each other. It seems to tremble under, and 
shrink from, the feet of a murderer; it refuses hence¬ 
forth to yield unto him her strength, and considers him 
as a monstrous, mishapen birth, of which she is asha¬ 
med, and which she wishes to destroy. He considers 
it as an unnatural mother, whom no pains can molify, 
no submission reconcile. “ A fugitive and a vagabond 
shaltthou be in the earth.” When the mind is chan¬ 
ged, every thing changed with it: when a man is at 
discord with himself, he is eternally from home. The 


LECT. V. # HISTORY OF CAIN. 55 

spacious world, Cain’s hereditary domain, is become 
a vast solitude; of a home is turned into a place of 
exile. The person whom all men shun is every where 
a stranger; he who is smitten of his own conscience, is 
continually surrounded with enemies. 

The same principle which engages men in criminal 
enterprises, in the hope of impunity, throws them into 
despair, upon the denunciation of punishment. As 
they formerly expected much higher satisfaction from 
the execution of their wicked purposes, than the most 
successful villany ever could bestow; so now, their own 
guilty minds outrun the awards of justice itself; and the 
awakened conscience does ample vengeance upon the 
offender at length, amply vindicates the cause both of 
God and man. This is strikingly exemplified in the 
case of Cain. His recent boldness and insolence are a 
strong contrast to his present dejection and terror. He 
now sinks under the apprehension of intolerable chas¬ 
tisements, and forebodes greater evils than his sentence 
denounced. His banishment he considers as far from 
being the greatest of the calamities of his condition; he 
feels himself excluded, hidden from the gracious pre¬ 
sence of God; and deserted of his Maker, liable to 
fall by the hand of every assailant. But God remem¬ 
bers mercy in the midst of anger: and the life which 
he himself was graciously pleased to spare, no one else 
must, on any pretence whatever, presume to take away. 
He only who can bestow life, has a right to dispose 
of it. 

Ye over-curious inquirers, who must needs be in¬ 
formed of every thing, what does it concern you to 
know, by what mark God distinguished Cain, to pre¬ 
vent his being killed by any one who might take upon 
himself to be the avenger of blood ? Speculation and 
conjecture, which with some pass for illustration and 
knowledge, are not the objects of these exercises ; but 
whatever assists faith, whatever supports a sound mo¬ 
rality, whatever conveys real information, inspires a 


56 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 


LECT. V* 


taste for goodness, represses inordinate and sinful de¬ 
sire ; whatever teaches gratitude and love to God, and 
good-will to men, that we would carefully observe, 
and earnestly inculcate. As it is no part of our inten¬ 
tion to wander into the regions of speculation, under 
a pretence of elucidating the sacred history, it is still 
less so, to enter the lists of controversy. Your Lec¬ 
turer has, no doubt, his opinions and prejudices, like 
other men: his prejudices, however, he is confident 
to say, are on the side of truth, and virtue, and religion : 
his opinions, he has no inclination dogmatically to pro¬ 
pose ; he neither wishes to make a secret of them, nor 
expects any one, much less the world, implicitly to 
adopt them. He is conscious of a desire to do good ; 
not over anxious about fame ; happy in the affection of 
many friends, and unconscious of having given cause 
to any good man to be his enemy. Forgive a digres¬ 
sion, suggested by the occasion, not rambled into 
through design; proceeding, not from the desire a 
man has to speak of himself, but from a wish, by doing 
it once for all, to cut off all future occasion of speaking 
in, or of, the first person. We return to the history. 

“ It shall come to pass,” says guilty, trembling Cain, 
“ that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” This 
is one of the many passages of scripture, which the ene¬ 
mies of religion have laid hold of, and held forth, as 
contradictory to other parts of revelation, in the view 
of invalidating and destroying the whole. Here, they 
allege, Moses is inconsistent with himself; in deriving 
the whole human race from the common root of Adam, 
and at the same time supposing the world so popm 
lous at the time of Abel’s murder, as to excite in Cain 
a well grounded apprehension of the public resent¬ 
ment and punishment of his crimes. Either, say 
they, there were other men and women created at 
the same time with, or before Adam and Eve; or 
else Cain’s fears are groundless and absurd. A learn¬ 
ed and ingenious critic has taken the trouble to refute this 


LECT. V. 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 


57 


objection, by instituting a calculation founded on obvi¬ 
ous probabilities at least, by which it appears, that at 
the time of Abel’s murder, the world was sufficiently peo¬ 
pled, on the Mosaic supposition, That all mankind de¬ 
scended from Adam, to render the public justice an ob¬ 
ject of well-grounded apprehension to guilty Cain. 
We pretend not to assert that the calculation of a mo¬ 
dem author is a demonstration of a fact so remote : if 
it be probable, it is sufficient for our purpose, that of 
doing away one of the cavils of infidelity. The birth 
of Seth is fixed, by the history, in the one hundred 
and thirtieth year of Adam : it is therefore reasonable 
to place the death of Abel two years earlier, or near it; 
that is, in the one hundred and twenty-eighth year of 
the world. “ Now though we should suppose,” says 
the calculator,* “ that Adam and Eve had no other 
sons in the year of the world one hundred and twenty- 
eight but Cain and Abel, it must be allowed that they 
had daughters, who might early marry with those two 
sons. I require no more than the descendants of these 
two, to make a very considerable number of men upon 
the earth, in the said year one hundred and twenty- 
eight. For supposing them to have been married in 
the nineteenth year of the world, they might easily have 
had each of them eight children in the twenty fifth 
year. In twenty-five years more, the fiftieth of the 
world, their descendants in a direct line would be sixty- 
four persons. In the seventy-fifth year, at the same 
rate, they would amount to five hundred and twelve. 
In the one hundredth year, to four thousand and ninety- 
six ; and in the one hundred and twenty-fifth year, to 
thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight.” 
Now if to this calculation we add the high degree of 
probability that Adam had many more sons besides 
those mentioned in the record ; that families were ge- 

* Dissert. Ghronol. Geogr. Critiq. sur la Bible, lme. Dissert journal <Te 
Paris, Jan. 1712. Tom. li. p. 6. 

Vol. I. H 


58 


HISTORY OF CAIN, 


LECT. V. 


nerally more numerous than the supposition states ; 
that simple manners, rural employments, temperature 
of climate, and largeness of room, are circumstances 
inconceivably more favourable to population, than mo¬ 
dern facts and European customs give us an idea of, 
we shall have no reason to think it strange, that Cain, 
under the pressure of conscious guilt, and harrowed 
with fear, which always both multiplies and magnifies 
objects far beyond their real number and size, should 
be alarmed and intimidated at the numbers of mankind, 
who, he supposed, were ready, and were concerned to 
execute vengeance upon him. “ He went out,” the 
history informs us, “ from the presence of the Lord.” 
Some interpreters have, from this expression, conclu¬ 
ded, that even after the fall, God continued to reside 
among men, in some sacred spot adjoining to Eden, 
and in some sensible tokens of his gracious presence : 
that thither gifts and sacrifices were brought, and were 
there offered up ; and that from thence, Cain, for his 
heinous transgression, was banished, and excluded from 
the society and privileges of the faithful. Whatever 
be in this, we know for certain, that wicked men natu¬ 
rally shun God, and drive him as far from their thoughts 
as they can : and in the phrase of scripture, God is said 
to “ hide his face” from wicked men, to “ turn his back” 
upon them, “ to give them up,” to denote his displea¬ 
sure with them. “ And he dwelt,” it is added, “ in 
the land of Nod.” It is the same word which is ren¬ 
dered in the twelfth and fourteenth verses, a vagabond. 
Why our translators, in the two former verses, give 
the meaning, or import of the word, and in the six¬ 
teenth verse the letters of it merely, is not easily com¬ 
prehensible. Let it be translated throughout, the sense 
is perfectly clear, and all ground of idle inquiry taken 
away. In the twelfth verse. God denounces his punish¬ 
ment, Thou shalt not die, but be Nod, a vagabond in 
the earth. In the fourteenth verse, Cain recognizes 
the justice of his sentence, and bewails it: “I shall be 


LECT. V. 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 


59 


AW, a vagabond in the earth.” And in the sixteenth, 
Moses gives us the history of its being put in execu¬ 
tion, “ he went out from the presence of the Lord, and 
dwelt in the land of AW,” a vagabond flying from 
place to place, skulking in corners, shunning the 
haunts of men, pursued incessantly by the remorse¬ 
ful pangs, and tormenting apprehensions of an ill con¬ 
science. Though you remove all external danger, yet 
u the wicked is as the troubled sea, which cannot rest, 
whose waters cast up mire and dirthe is “major 
missabib,” a terror to himself. To live in perpetual 
fear, to live at discord with a man’s self,* is not to live 
at all. 

The posterity of Cain are represented, in scripture, 
as the first to build a city. The mutual fears and wants 
of men drive them into society ; put them upon raising 
bulwarks, devising restraints, cultivating the arts which 
afford the means of defence against attacks from with¬ 
out, or which amuse and divert within. The invention 
of music, and of manufactures in brass and iron, are, 
accordingly, likewise ascribed to his descendants.— 
When men are got together in great multitudes, as 
their different talents will naturally whet each other to 
the invention of new arts of life, and the cultivation of 
science; so their various passions, mingling with, and 
acting upon one another, will necessarily produce un¬ 
heard-of disorders and irregularities. Hence, in Enoch , 
the city of Cain, and in Lamech , the sixth from Cain, we 
first read of that invasion of the rights of mankind, po¬ 
lygamy, or the marrying more wives than one. In a 
great city, as there will be many who omit doing their 
duty altogether, so there will be some, who will take 
upon them to do more than duty prescribes. The un¬ 
varying nearness, or equality which Providence has 
preserved from the creation of the world, of male and 
female births, is full demonstration, independent of 
all statute law, that the Governour of the world means 
every man to have his own wife, and every woman her 


60 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 


LECT. V. 


own husband ; that to neglect his intention in this mat¬ 
ter, is an attempt to counteract his providence ; and that 
to outrun it is an effort equally vain, presumptuous, 
wicked, and absurd, to mend his work. 

How long Cain lived, and when, or where, and in 
what manner he died, we have no information. And 
little satisfaction can it yield, to attend the footsteps of 
a wicked and unhappy man, through a life of guilt and 
remorse, to a latter end of horror. Better for him he 
had never been born, than to have lived a sorrow to 
her that bare him, detested and shunned of all men, “ a 
fugitive and a Vagabond in the earth,’’ a burthen and a 
terror to himself. Better for him his name had never 
been mentioned among posterity, than to have it trans¬ 
mitted to latest generations, stained with a brother’s 
blood. But it is of high importance to know, that 
God, in his good time, supplied the place of righteous 
Abel, preserved alive the holy seed, and secured a suc¬ 
cession, which should at length terminate in that “ pro¬ 
mised seed,” who was “ to bruise the serpent’s head,” 
who was 4< to destroy the works of the devil.” “ And 
Adam knew his wife again: and she bare a son, and 
called his name Seth ; for God, said she, hath appoint¬ 
ed me another seed, instead of Abel, whom Cain 
slew.” 

This wicked man’s history is a loud admonition to 
all, to watch over their spirits : and carefully to guard 
against the first emotions of envy, anger, hatred, con¬ 
tempt, malice, or revenge. And the words of Jesus 
Christ confirm and enforce the solemn warning, “ I 
say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother 
without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; 
and whosoever shall say unto his brother, Raca, shall 
be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, 
Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, 
if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember- 
est that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave 
there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first 


LECT. V. 


HISTORY OF CAIN. 


61 


be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer 
thy gift,” Matt. v. 22, 23, 24. 

Hold thy bloody hand, son, daughter of murderous 
Cain! Why should a brother, a sister fall by it! That 
furious look is a dagger; that unkind word has made 
the blood, the heart’s blood to follow it. Daughter of 
murderous Cain ! A female hand armed with a sword, 
lifted up to slay, dipped in blood ! No, she wields a 
more deadly weapon, she brandishes an envenomed 
tongue : poison more fatal than that of asps is under 
her lips; it is not the body that suffers, when that un¬ 
ruly member moves ; it is the spirit, it is the spirit that 
bleeds : the man dies, and sees not who it was that 
hurt him ; he perishes in the best part of himself, his 
good name is blasted ; and what has he left worth pos¬ 
sessing ? The sight of a little material blood makes her 
faint: a dead corpse terrifies and shocks her ; but she 
can calmly, and with delight, sit down to that horrid 
human sacrifice, a murdered, mangled reputation! 

But the history, also, in its connection, inspires holy 
joy and confidence in God, by representing the con¬ 
stant, seasonable, and suitable interpositions of his pro¬ 
vidence, according to the various exigences of man¬ 
kind. Devils and wicked men are continually aiming 
at defacing his image, at marring his work; but they 
cannot prevail. The purposes of the divine wisdom 
and mercy are not to be defeated by the united efforts 
of earth and hell. Abel dies, but Seth starts up in his 
room. Jesus expires on the cross, but “ through death, 
destroys him that had the power of death, that is, the 
devil.” “ Surely, O Lord, the wrath of man shall 
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shait 
restrain.” 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


LECTURE VI. 

And Enoch walked with God , and he was not; for God 
took him . —Gen. v. 24. 


The regular and uniform dominion of the laws of 
nature, or the occasional suspension and alteration of 
them, are equally a proof of the being and providence of 
God. Whether the sun with uninterrupted speed con¬ 
tinues to perform his daily and annual course; or whe¬ 
ther he “ stands still in Gibeon,” or “ goes back on the 
dial of Ahaz the interposition of the Most High is 
equally apparent, and equally to be acjored. And 
why may not He, who “ has appointed unto all men 
once to die, 5 ’ in order to make his power known, and 
his goodness felt, exhibit here and there an illustrious 
exemption from the power of the grave, and thereby 
vindicate his sovereign rights as the great arbiter and 
disposer of life and death. 

To fallen Adam it w'as denounced, “ Dust thou art, 
and unto dust thou shalt return by one man “ sin en¬ 
tered into the world, and death by sin, and so death 
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned But, 
behold the mortal sentence is remitted in favour of 
Enoch, the seventh from Adam ; behold the order of 
nature is altered, the decree of Heaven is dispensed 
with; he is translated without tasting of death.” 
When an event, so entirely out of course, takes place, 
it is natural, and not unprofitable, to inquire into the 
causes of it; for when the issue is singular and un¬ 
common, we justly conclude that the circumstances 



IECT. VI. 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


63 


which led to it, were likewise singular and uncommon. 
The holy scriptures afford us, but sparingly materials 
for a life, which concluded so very differently from that 
of other men ; but what they have furnished, is stri¬ 
king and instructive. 

The venerable father of the human race had now 
himself paid the debt of nature. The curse of the bro¬ 
ken law had been seen and felt in the unnatural and 
premature death of Abel; and was at length inflicted, 
in the departure of Adam, at the mature age of nine 
hundred and thirty years. The events which had hi¬ 
therto taken place from the fall, were so many succes¬ 
sive demonstrations of the justice of God ; under the 
weight of which, men were, one after another, sinking 
into the grave. All that mercy had as yet done, was 
to grant a reprieve of forfeited life : and death, though 
delayed to the thousandth year, is still bitterness in the 
end. We may reasonably suppose the faithful them¬ 
selves to have been overwhelmed at the sight of so 
many vials of wrath, poured out from time to time on 
their guilty race ; and that they were incapable of dis¬ 
covering the promises of favour and triumph, of life 
and immortality, through the obscure veil of that pro¬ 
mise, “ the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of 
the serpent.” The sacrifice of Abel indeed discover¬ 
ed a faith in God, which raised the spirit above the 
fear and the stroke of death ; and good men like him, 
would be led in their dying moments, with holy confi¬ 
dence and joy, to commit their departing souls to God, 
as unto a faithful Creator ; but the body evidently re¬ 
turned to its dust, suffered corruption, and was dissol¬ 
ved. Religion accordingly furnished, as yet, but im¬ 
perfectly, one of the most powerful motives which it 
proposes to bring men unto God, as “ the rewarder of 
all them that diligently seek him.” But at length he 
vouchsafes to unveil the invisible world; and shews it 
to be possible “ for flesh and blood to inherit the king¬ 
dom of God.” Within fifty-seven years from the 


64 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


LECT. VI, 


time that Adam was laid in the dust, Enoch, without 
undergoing that change, passes immediately into the 
presence and paradise of God. And thus there was 
placed before the eyes of the church, and of the world, 
in that early period, an anticipated view and example 
of the final victory which the Messiah was at last to 
obtain over death, and all the other enemies of man’s 
salvation. 

Enoch, however illustrious and distinguished in his 
latter end, as well as by the superior sanctity of his 
life, came into the world in the usual manner, and ful¬ 
filled the duties of the ordinary relations of human 
life, while he continued in it. One great branch of 
holy walking with God, is useful walking among men. 
Having, to the proper period, lived in the obedience 
and subjection of a son, he in due time becomes the 
master of a family and a father; for Methuselah was 
bom to him in the sixty-fifth year of his age, a pe¬ 
riod earlier than that at which any of the patriarchs, 
according to the record, became a parent, except his 
grandfather Mahalaleel. It is not the religion of God, 
which withdraws or excludes men from society ; and 
teaches disrepect to the secular destinations of provi¬ 
dence, or the relative obligations and connections of 
life. No, it is the religion of Satan, which would re¬ 
present as impure, what God declares pure, and per¬ 
mits to all, enjoins upon all: it is “ a seducing spirit, 
and a doctrine of devilswhich foroids to marry, 
which God hath created to be received with thanksgi¬ 
ving of them who believe and know the truth.” What, 
is a wretched solitary monk in his cell holier than 
Enoch, the father of a numerous family, who pleased 
God, so as to be rew arded w ith exemption from death, 
and with immediate admission into the kingdom of 
heaven ? He who lives unconnected, wilfully contracts 
his sphere of being useful, and of doing good; he wick¬ 
edly hides his talent in the ground : he robs God, his 
country, and his kindred, of services which they have 
a just right to expect from him. 


LECT. VI. 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


65 


Again, this holy man deserves our notice, as one of 
the great ancestors of the human race; as a link in the 
mighty chain of providence, which was gradually bring¬ 
ing on that eventful period, that fulness of time, when 
“ the first-born among many brethren,” last in order 
of succession, but first in dignity, should come for our 
salvation. Enoch was born in the year of the world, six 
hundred and twenty-two. Adam died fifty-seven years 
before his translation. Of consequence they were con¬ 
temporaries, or lived together, for no less a period than 
three hundred and eight years. Adam’s whole stock 
of natural and divine knowledge might accordingly 
have been, and most probably was, communicated, by 
w T ord of mouth, to Enoch, in so long a course of years : 
and much did he profit by a communication so impor¬ 
tant. And this, by the way, instructs us in one final 
cause of the longevity of the patriarchs in the antedilu¬ 
vian world. As there was then no wTitten word, no 
transferable record of divine truth, all religious know¬ 
ledge must have been greatly marred and impaired, if 
not entirely lost, in the rapid lapse of generations, re¬ 
duced to the present short standard of half a century. 
But God graciously lengthened out life then to many 
centuries; whereby the father w r as enabled to instruct 
his posterity of the seventh or eighth generation, in the 
thingswvhich he himself had received immediately from 
the fountain of all truth and knowdedge. Thus are the 
dispensations of Providence suited to the necessities of 
mankind; thus can God remedy every inconveniency, 
and make up every defect, in a way peculiar to himself. 
But to proceed: 

Enoch was an illustrious person, not only in the 
church, but among the heathen. Eusebius, the famous 
ecclesiastical historian, who flourished and wTote in the 
fourth century, of the Christian era, quotes Eupolemus, 
a heathen author of credit, as affirming, that the Baby¬ 
lonians consider Enoch as the author of their astrology; 
and allege, that he is the same who is called Atlas by 
VOL. I. I 


66 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


LECT. VI. 


the Greeks, who, from his profound skill in natural ob¬ 
jects, and particularly from his discoveries in astrono¬ 
my, was hyperbolically said to sustain the heavens on 
his shoulders. The expression, “ Enoch walked with 
God,” is, in conformity to this opinion, interpreted 
of his close and intense application to the study of na¬ 
ture, and of the great additions to the public stock of 
acquired knowledge, which he made in consequence of 
it. That this may warrantably be supposed to consti¬ 
tute one branch of “ walking with God,” we are not 
disposed to deny. The study of nature is honourable, 
pleasing, and improving, and “ the invisible things of 
God” may be clearly traced in “the things that are 
made.” But had Enoch been merely a great natu¬ 
ralist, a sagacious astronomer, or a profound sooth¬ 
sayer, he had not been transmitted to future genera¬ 
tions by a distinction so honourable and so uncommon ; 
nor had his history merited so much of your attention 
as has already been bestowed upon it. Whether he 
was an adept in the science of nature or not, we know, 
upon the best authority, that he was a great “ prophet;” 
for Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, in his general 
epistle, quotes him in that quality, in these words: 
“ Enoch also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of 
these, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thou¬ 
sands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and 
to convince all the ungodly among them of their ungod¬ 
ly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of 
all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have 
spoken against him.” Jude, ver. 14, 15. Now it is no 
business of mine to inquire in what record Jude found 
this prophecy of Enoch; it is sufficient for my purpose 
that an apostle of the Lord delivers it as such. Our 
purpose, is not to answer the objections, and refute the 
cavils of unbelievers, but humbly to attempt to illus¬ 
trate, enforce, and apply scripture truth, to those who 
receive the bible as the word of God; as the guide of 
their faith, the source of their hope, and the rule of 


L ECT. VI. 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


67 


their life. From the prophecy itself, it is of impor¬ 
tance to observe how early, and how powerfully the 
doctrine of a judgment to come was taught to the 
world. How clearly do those men discern, whose eyes 
are opened by the Spirit of the living God ! How vast 
and how profound must that intelligence be, which can 
communicate, even to man, the foreknowledge of events 
the most remote; which revealed to Enoch, in the 
very infancy of the world, the awful day of its dissolu¬ 
tion! 

In this holy man it is apparent, that the grace of 
God’s Spirit accompanied his gifts : the spirit of pro¬ 
phecy blended with the spirit of “ faith, and love, and 
of a sound mind.” Not like Balaam, who saw in pro¬ 
phetic vision, the star of Jacob arising, but in unbelief 
shut his eyes against its light; who discried things to 
come by the inspiration of the living God ; but sottish- 
ly yielded homage to them who are no gods ; who lived 
a prophet, but died an idolater; not like Caiaphas, 
who, following the impulse of his own passions, and 
governed by the prejudice of a blinded mind, uttered a 
truth which he was not aware of; stumbled on a pre¬ 
diction which he was unknowingly, undesignediy help¬ 
ing to fulfil: but Enoch, impressed with the solemn 
truth which he preached to others, daily improved by 
it himself. How apt are men to err in this respect!— 
They earnestly covet the gifts, which are dispensed but 
to a few, and are not always sanctified to the possessor ; 
while they are careless about the graces which God is 
ever ready to bestow upon all, and which always accom¬ 
pany salvation. Let me possess, O God, an humble 
and a charitable spirit, though with the simplicity of a 
child, rather than “ speak with the tongue of men or of 
angels,” and be destitute of it. 

This leads us to the interesting, important, and in¬ 
structive part of Enoch’s history, namely, his moral 
and religious character, expressed in these few but com¬ 
prehensive words, “ Enoch walked with God.” Every 


68 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


LECT. V I. 


thing else is transitory and fading. Youthful vigour and 
beauty are but the short-lived flowers of the spring, 
which die as soon as they are born : the honourable dis¬ 
tinctions of this world are bubbles of empty air, which 
burst in a moment, and disappear for ever; scientific 
researches and discoveries, are only the amusements 
of children, who know but in part, and see as “in a 
glass darkly but holy walking with God is the honour¬ 
able employment of a man : it is a permanent and pe¬ 
rennial source of satisfaction ; it is the essence of life ; 
the cure of pain ; the conqueror of death ; the gate 
of immortality ; it is heaven upon earth. And where¬ 
in does it consist ? “ Can two walk together, except 
they be agreed ?” No. Walking with God must 
therefore commence in reconciliation to God; and 
scripture knows, acknowledges, teaches no other way 
of reconciliation but one. And the sacred commen¬ 
tator on the passage and character under review, lays 
down this great leading principle of religion, as the 
foundation of Enoch’s holy conversation, and of the 
honours which he of consequence attained—“ By faith 
Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, 
and was not found, because God had translated him: 
for before his translation he had this testimony, that he 
pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to 
please him: for he that cometh to God, must believe 
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that dili¬ 
gently seek him,” Keb. xi. 5, 6. Nowq in every age of 
the world, faith has but one and the same object. From 
Abel dowm to the youngest of the prophets, and from 
the fisherman who left his nets, and his worldly all to 
follow Jesus, to the end of time, the being, the nature, 
and the will of God have been, and can be, savingly 
known, and the mercy of God savingly embraced, only 
through a mediator. 

On this foundation, what a superstructure of holi¬ 
ness may be raised! What gratitude, love, submission, 
and obedience to God! What complacency and delight 


LECT. VI. 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


69 


in him! What kindness, compassion, forbearance, be¬ 
neficence, and charity towards men ! What gentleness, 
meekness, purity, peace; to adorn, to compose, to 
tranquilize, to bless the man himself! What con¬ 
stancy, perseverance, uniformity, increase in goodness ! 
What venerability as a patriarch! What dignity as a 
sovereign ! What sanctity as a priest! What respecta¬ 
bility as a husband, a father, a master! What utility as 
a pattern and example! And such a one was Enoch; 
thus he lived and walked with God; and thus escaped 
death, that end of all men : “ He was not, for God took 
him.” This is the last memorable particular of his 
history. About the import of the words we can be at 
no loss, after the apostle has explained them, by his 
being “ translated that he should not see death.” 
With the manner of that translation we have nothing 
to do, as scripture is silent. If God intended it to be 
a public admonition or encouragement to the men of 
that generation, we may rest assured he gave full and 
satisfactory evidence concerning it. That he meant it 
to afford universal and everlasting instruction to man¬ 
kind, it is impossible to doubt from his giving it so 
honourable and so distinguished a place in his word. 
And what is the instruction which it administers to the 
world ? Simply this, that a life of faith and holiness is 
but one remove from glory ; that heaven descended to 
earth, will quickly raise men from earth to heaven : that 
death either averted, or overcome and destroyed, will 
at length open a passage to perfect union with God and 
enjoyment of him. Why should I detain you, to re¬ 
late the dreams of visionaries, and the fables of impos¬ 
tors, respecting the manner in which God disposed of 
Enoch after his assumption ? There is no edification, 
and indeed but little amusement in the bold fictions of 
a Mahomet, or the wild conjectures of a Jewish Rab¬ 
bin. We acknowledge no other paradise, or habita¬ 
tion of the blessed, but that represented in scripture, as 
the place where God gives the brightest evidences of 


70 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


LECT. VI. 


his gracious presence, and communicates his glory in 
full splendour. That, to which Jesus on the cross pro¬ 
mised to conduct the penitent thief. That which Paul 
calls the third heaven : and which in other places of the 
bible is denominated heaven simply and by way of 
excellency. Thither was Enoch taken ; thither also 
did Elijah, two thousand one hundred and twenty-one 
years afterwards, mount on a chariot of fire, and the 
wings of a whirlwind ; and finally, thither at length, in 
placid majesty, ascended the captain of our salvation, 
“ leading captivity captive.” 

Thus, in each of the three great periods of the 
church, was exhibited an instance of a man taken up 
into heaven, body and spirit, as a support and encou¬ 
ragement to the hope of believers, of attaining the same 
felicity. Enoch before the law was given ; Elijah under 
the legal economy; and Jesus Christ, the Saviour of 
men, under the evangelical dispensation. And God, 
in conducting these events, has gradually disclosed life 
and immortality, from the dawning of the morning 
light, to the full glory of meridian splendour. It was a 
soothing, and an animating spectacle, for the faithful of 
the first world to see a good man vanish away, and 
after living his period on earth, in piety, purity, and 
peace, lodged, not in a tomb, but in the bosom of God. 
It was yet a stronger presumption of immortality, to 
those who lived in the second period, to see the hea¬ 
vens opened for the reception of one of their prophets ; 
and celestial ministers in flaming fire, not of anger, but 
of love, sent to conduct him to the place of the blessed. 
But it is a demonstration to Christians, and indeed the 
earnest and pledge of their inheritance, to see the great 
author and finisher of their faith, gradually and majes¬ 
tically rising through those vast regions which separate 
earth from heaven; and to hear the church triumphant 
summoning the gates of the palace of glory to be open¬ 
ed, to receive the King of Glory, on his coming to 
prepare mansions of bliss for their reception, when 


iECT. VI. 


HISTORY OF ENOCH. 


71 


the days of their probation are ended. “ Such a High 
Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, 
separate from sinners, and made higher than the hea¬ 
vens. 

Enoch, Elijah, and Christ, in certain views, can be 
compared only with each other; but in all things, he 
must have the re-peminence. They prophesied through 
the power and virtue of the spirit given unto them; he 
is the giver of that spirit to them; and to all the pro¬ 
phets. As mere men, they must have had their infir¬ 
mities, and the infirmities of one of them are upon 
record ; but he knew infirmity only by a fellow feeling 
with the miserable, and he is the atonement for their 
sins. By the power and mercy of God, they were 
taken up into heaven; by his own power he ascended 
on high ; they as servants, he as the eternal Son of God. 
In them , we have a repeated instance of bodies glori¬ 
fied without suffering death; he “ was dead, and is 
alive again,” and carried to heaven a body which had 
been laid in the tomb. In them we have an object of 
admiration and astonishment; in him, a pattern for 
imitation, a Saviour in whom to trust, a ground of hope 
whereon to rest. Faith exempted them from death; 
and faith shall at length redeem all the followers of the 
Lamb from the power of the grave. Enoch and Elijah 
ascended as solitary individuals, Christ as the first 
fruits of them that sleep ; and “ lifted up,” is drawing 
an elect world unto him. They were admitted to re¬ 
gions unknown, and among society untried: he only re¬ 
turned to the place from whence he came. 

We conclude the History of Enoch with this obvious, 
but we trust not useless reflection—that those lives 
which deserve most to be had in remembrance, are 
most easily recorded, and consist of fewest articles. 
The history of an Enoch is comprised in three words, 
while the exploits of an Alexander, a Caesar, or any 
other of the scourges and destroyers of mankind, swell 


72 


HISTORY 1 OF ENOCH. 


LECT. IV. 


to many volumes. But what comparison is there be¬ 
tween the bubble reputation, bestowed by historians, 
poets, or orators, on the worthless and the wicked ; and 
the solid, sterling praise conferred on the wise and 
good, by the spirit of God, by whom actions are 
weighed, and who will at last “ bring every secret thing 
into judgment?” And wo be unto them, who love 
the praise of men more than the praise of God. 

Into what a little measure shrinks the whole history 
of mankind previous to the flood; though a period of 
no less than one thousand six hundred and fifty-six 
years! To that great revolution of the world we are 
now brought; and the following Lecture, if God per¬ 
mit, will contain the first part of the History of Noah ; 
in whose person, the old and new worlds, through the 
vast chasm of the deluge, were connected together; 
and who is exhibited in scripture as a type of Him, in 
whose person heaven and earth are united, and by 
whom all things are to be made new. May God bless 
what has been spoken. Amen. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECTURE VII. 

And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years , 
and begat a son: and he called his name Noah , saying , 
same shall comfort us concerning our work and 
toil of our hands , because of the ground which the 
Lord hath cursed —Gen. v. 28, 29. 

I HE fortunes and characters of men are various as 
their faces. What diversity has appeared in the lives, 
and in the latter end, of those persons whose history 
has already passed under our review, in the course of 
these Exercises! Adam experienced a change more 
bitter then death Abel perished by the hand of his 
brother. The murderer becomes a terror to himself, 
lives in exile, and dies unnoticed. Enoch is gloriously 
exempted from the stroke of death, and carried directly 
to heaven. Noah survives the whole human race, his 
own family excepted ; lives to behold a world destroy¬ 
ed, a world restored. 

We are now arrived at that memorable revolution of 
which there exist so many striking marks on the exter¬ 
nal appearance of the globe ; of which there are such fre¬ 
quent and distinct intimations in the traditional monu¬ 
ments and records of all the learned nations of antiqui¬ 
ty ; and of which it has pleased God to give such an am¬ 
ple and circumstantial detail in scripture. 

Concerning Noah, great expectations were formed, 
from the moment of his birth. The world was arrived 
at an uncommon pitch of corruption and degeneracy. 
The natural evils which flesh is heir to, were prodigi- 
Vol. T. K 



74 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECT. VII. 


ously increased by irreligion and vice; so that the earth 
groaned, as it were, under the curse of God, and the 
violence and impiety of men. Lamech, the father of 
Noah, with the fondness and partiality of parental 
affection, flatters himself that his new-born son would 
prove a comfort to himself and a blessing to mankind; 
and most probably directed by the spirit of prophecy, 
bestows upon him a name significant of his future cha¬ 
racter and conduct; of the station which he was to fill, 
and the purpose which he was to serve, in the destina¬ 
tion of Providence. He had the satisfaction of living 
to see his expectations realized ; and his eyes closed in 
peace at a good old age, five years before that great ca¬ 
lamity which overwhelmed the human race—the de- 
lug e - 

Scripture accounts for the universal depravity of that 
awful period, in these Words; “ And it came to pass, 
when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, 
and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of 
God saw the daughters of men that they were fair ; and 
they took them wives of all which they chose,” Gen. 
vi. 1, 2. These expressions the most respectable and 
judicious interpreters explain, as descriptive of unhal¬ 
lowed and imprudent intermarriages between the poste¬ 
rity of pious Seth, here called “ the sons God,” and 
and the female descendants of wicked Cain, denomina¬ 
ted “ the daughters of men.” Attracted by external 
and transitory charms, they form alliances inconsistent 
with wisdom, and disallowed of Heaven. The inven¬ 
tion of the fine arts being in the family of Cain, it is not 
absurd to suppose, that these were called in aid to per¬ 
sonal beauty 7 ; and that the allurements of music and 
dress in particular, were employed by the daughters of 
Jubal, “ the father of all such as handle the harp and 
organ,” and of Tubal-Cain, “ the instructer of every 
artificer in brass and iron,” to support the impression 
already made by their fair looks. What ensued ? 
That which will always happen to piety unwisely and 



LECT. VII. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


75 


unequally yoking itself with irreligion and prophani- 
ty; the evil principle being much more powerful to 
pervert the good, than the good to reform the evil. 
Giants are said to have been the issue of those unfortu¬ 
nate marriages ; literally, perhaps, men of huge stature, 
like the sons of Anak in latter times; certainly, men 
of lofty, aspiring, haughty minds; the heirs to the 
pride, vanity, and presumption of their mothers, more 
than to the decency, wisdom, and piety of their male 
ancestors. That corruption must have been general 
indeed, which comprehended all, save Noah and his 
household ; and it must have been very grievous, to 
constrain the Spirit of God, to employ language so 
strong and expressive as this, on the occasion; “ And 
it repented the Lord that he had made man on the 
earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord 
said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from 
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the 
creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repent- 
eth me that I have made them,” Gen. vi. 6, 7. When 
the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint, disso¬ 
lution and destruction cannot be at a great distance. 
“But Noah was a just man, and perfect in his genera¬ 
tions : and Noah walked with God.” How honourable 
for Noah to stand thus single, thus distinguished ! 
Goodness supported and kept in countenance by the 
mode, and by multitudes, is amiable and praise-wor¬ 
thy : but goodness single and alone; goodness stem- 
ing the torrent, resisting the contagion of example, 
despising the universal sneer, braving universal opposi¬ 
tion, such goodness is superior to all praise : and such 
was the goodness of Noah. He distinguished himself 
in the midst of an adulterous and sinful generation, by 
his piety, righteousness, and zeal; and God, who 
suffers none to lose at his hand, distinguishes him by 
special marks of his favour. “ But Noah found gjace 
in the eyes of the Lord,” Gen. vi. 8. 


76 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECT, VII. 


Of no character does scripture speak more highly 
than of Noah’s, “ he was a just man and perfect in his 
generations, and walked with God.” In general cala¬ 
mities, it must needs happen that the innocent suffer 
with the guilty. But in some cases, Providence is 
pleased specially to interpose for the deliverance of 
good men. Rather than one worthy family should 
perish in the deluge, a whole world of transgressors is 
respited, till the means of safety for that family are pro¬ 
vided. Is a sinful city or nation spared ? We may rest 
assured there are some valuable, pious persons among 
them. According to the idea suggested by our bless¬ 
ed Lord, the righteous are “ the salt of the earth,” 
that which seasons the whole mass, and preserves it 
from putrefaction and corruption. The apostle Peter 
styles Noah “ a preacher of righteousness.” He was 
not carried away by the prevailing profligacy of his 
day. He preached by a holy descent from the pre¬ 
vailing maxims and practices of the times. He preach¬ 
ed by an open and bold remonstrance against the gene¬ 
ral dissoluteness and impiety. And he preached at 
length by his works ; by the construction and fitting up 
of the ark for the preservation of himself and family, 
and for saving alive a breed of the various sorts of fowls 
and animals. 

It is with pleasure we once more refer you to the 
sacred expositor of the antediluvian history: 44 By 
faith,” says he, “ Noah being warned of God of things 
not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark, to 
the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the 
world and became heir of the righteousness which is by 
faith,” Heb. xi. 7. Here a croud of ideas rush upon 
us at once. Behold the great God in the midst of 
judgment remembering mercy. He will not destroy the 
righteous with the wicked. But God will not vouch¬ 
safe to perform that immediately by a miracle, which 
may be effected by the blessing of his providence 
upon human foresight, industry, and diligence. He 


LECr. VII. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


77 


who was pleased to save Enoch, by translating him to 
heaven without tasting death, thought fit to preserve 
Noah by means of an ark of his own building. The 
design and contrivance is God’s; the execution is man’s. 
He who could have transported Noah to a different 
sphere, and have lodged him there m safety, till the 
waters of the flood had abated, kept him alive and in 
safety, rolling in the ark, upon the face of the mighty 
waters. He, who in the morning of the sixth day, by 
the almighty fiat , created at first the whole animal 
world, and though lost, could have in a moment repla¬ 
ced it, by the word of his power, thought proper to 
preserve alive the race of animals, by providing a place 
of refuge, and by a special instinct of his providence, 
warning them of their approaching danger, and con¬ 
ducting them to shelter. 

Behold, dreadful to think! the patience of God at 
last exhausted: and the decree goes forth. “ The 
earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was 
filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, 
and behold, it was corrupt: for all flesh had corrupted 
his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, 
“ The end of all flesh is come before me ; for the earth 
is filled with violence through them; and behold I will 
destroy them with the earth.” Gen. vi. 11, 12, 13. 
God has warned, threatened, borne with men in vain ; 
and Noah preached to them in vain. The day of the 
Lord is come and who shall be able to stand ? And 
who hath seen, heard of, or is able to conceive, a cala¬ 
mity so dreadful ? “ The end of all flesh is come. I 

will destroy them with the earth.” Immediately upon 
the fall, universal nature underwent a change. The 
mild influences of the heavens were changed or with¬ 
held ; the earth refused to yield her increase to the 
hand of the cultivator; but the full extent and awful 
import of the curse was never felt till now. By the 
deluge the whole face of nature was to be altered; the 
solid globe dissolved and disjointed; its parts tom 


78 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECT. VII. 


asunder from each other; its fertility diminished; that 
it might present to all future generations, a magnificent 
palace, but in ruins; the mere skeleton of ancient 
splendour. 

Some ingenious men have supposed, that at this 
period, the position and motion of our earth, with respect 
to the sun, were changed; that till then it was so situa¬ 
ted in relation to the heavenly bodies, as to possess an 
equal and universal temperature of air; that hitherto 
a perpetual spring went hand in hand with an abundant 
autumn: but that then it was placed in the slanting 
and oblique situation, which occasions diversity of 
climates and seasons; which exposes one part to the 
burning and direct rays of the sun ; binds another up 
in perpetual chains of darkness and ice; gives birth 
to volcanoes, earthquakes, tempests, hurricanes, and all 
that tribe of natural evils which afflict the wretched 
children of men. The effects, undoubtedly, must have 
been wonderful, as the event itself is altogether preter¬ 
natural. I have no intention of going at present into 
a discussion of the question, whether the extent of the 
flood was universally over all the earth ; nor into a phi¬ 
losophical investigation of the means employed in pro¬ 
ducing a phenomenon so singular. Taking the bible 
account of the matter in its literal import, we will rather 
make such reflections upon it as may, by the blessing of 
God, promote the interests of faith and of holiness in 
our hearts and lives. 

Behold, then, the venerable sage, at the admonition 
of Heaven, undertaking his great work. The founda¬ 
tion is laid ; the fabric advances ; and every stroke of 
the axe or hammer, summons a thoughtless and a guilty 
world to repentance: but “ they will not hear, they 
will not lay it to heart.” I see the good man, malign¬ 
ed, derided, insulted. In their gaiety of heart, they 
scornfully style the ark, Noah's folly . The work 
is finished, but they continue to sing, dance, and play ; 
.and many, it is probable, have an active hand in the 


LECT. VII. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


79 


construction of that machine, to which they scorn to 
resort for shelter from the impending danger. Noah is 
not to be diverted from his purpose. Neither the im¬ 
mensity of the undertaking, nor the length of time 
which it required, nor the opposition which he meets 
with from an unbelieving generation, discourage him 
in the prosecution of a design, planned by infinite wis¬ 
dom, and recommended by divine mercy. 

How the whole tribe of commentators have gone into 
the opinion, that the space of one hundred and twenty 
years were employed in building the ark, is strange and 
unaccountable. It appears not on the face of the his¬ 
tory ; it is irreconcileable to reason and experience : as 
without a miracle, the parts first constructed must have 
failed and decayed before the latter parts were finished : 
and it expressly contradicts the chronological detail of 
the facts, as delivered to us in scripture. For Noah 
was five hundred years old at the birth of his eldest son. 
When the order for building the ark was given, all his 
three sons were married, as we learn from the follow ing 
passage : “ But with thee will I establish my covenant: 
and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons’, 
and thy w r ife, and thy son’s wives with thee,” Gen. vi. 
18. The youngest therefore may reasonably be sup¬ 
posed to have seen his fiftieth year ; and the flood came 
upon the earth in the six hundredth year of Noah’s 
life ; there is left, then a period considerably less than 
fifty years, for the execution of the work; and it 
most probably occupied a much shorter space than 
even that. 

Some minute inquirers have taken the trouble to cal¬ 
culate the solid contents, and thence to estimate the bur¬ 
then of this wonderful vessel. A cubit is the distance in 
a full grown man, from the elbow to the tip of the mid¬ 
dle finger; for the conveniency of calculation, it has 
been fixed at a foot and a half of common measure. 
Upon this supposition the ark contained one million, se¬ 
ven hundred and eighty-one thousand, three hundred 


80 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECT. VII. 


and forty-six cubical feet; which, according to the usual 
allowance of forty-two feet to a ton, or two thousand 
pounds weight, makes the whole burthen to be forty-two 
thousand four hundred and thirteen tons; which is con¬ 
siderably more than the burthen of forty ships of one 
thousand tons each. Such was the vast unwieldly fabric, 
entrusted, without mast, sail, rudder, or compass, to 
the mercy of the waves : and which contained the saved 
remnant of the human race, and of the animal crea¬ 
tion, with all necessary accommodation and provision 
for the space of more than a year. 

Behold the four footed and the feathered tribes, each 
according to his kind, by a peculiar instinct of Heaven, 
flocking to Noah for protection from the threaten¬ 
ing tempest, as formerly to Adam, to receive their 
names. The beasts take warning and hide themselves, 
but men, more stupid than the brutes, sin on, till they 
are destroyed. Every thing announced a storm ga¬ 
thering. Noah preaches to the last hour; admonishes, 
entreats, threatens, and invites. What means that 
preternatural gathering together of the brute creation 
to one place ? How came they in a moment to change 
their nature; to seek what before they shunned; to 
forget all animosity towards each other? Whence 
is it that the u wolf dwells with the lamb, the leop¬ 
ard lies down with the kid, and the young lion and 
the fading together?” What so brutish and incorrigi¬ 
ble as men given up to their own lusts ! 

At length all is safely housed, from the dove, to the 
raven, and God shuts in Noah with his charge. When 
lo! the face of heaven is covered with blackness. Na¬ 
ture shudders at the frown of an angry God ; the win¬ 
dows of heaven are opened ; the rain descends amain : 
the barriers that confined the ocean to its appointed 
bed are removed, and the waters from beneath start 
up to meet the waters coming down from above, and 
join their streams to avenge a holy and righteous God 
of his adversaries. The gradual increase of the cala- 


LECT. VII. HISTORY OF NOAH. 81 

mity is a dreadful aggravation of its horror. Thick 
clouds first gave the alarm. Rain uncommonly heavy, 
and of longer than ordinary continuance, increases the 
growing surprise and consternation. The voice of 
mirth is heard no more, and “ all the daughters of 
music are brought low.” By degrees the rivers swell¬ 
ing over their banks, and seas forgetting their shores, 
render the plains and the vallies no places of safety. 
But the lofty mountains will afford a refuge from the 
growing plague. Thither, in trembling hope, the 
wretches fly. The gathered tempest will surely spend 
itself, and serenity return. Ah, vain hope ! the swell¬ 
ing surge gains continually upon them ; all is become 
sea ; the foundations of the hills are shaken by the tide ; 
it advances upon them. As their last resource they 
climb the trees which cover the mountain tops, and 
cling to them in despair. Their neighbours and friends 
sink in the gulph before their eyes ! their ears are filled 
with the shrieks of them that perish. All is amaze¬ 
ment and wo. At length they are all overtaken and 
overwhelmed. To have lengthened their miserable 
existence so long by vain efforts, is only to have length¬ 
ened out anguish. To fill up the measure of their 
misery, they perish in sight of a place of security which 
they cannot reach : they perish with the bitter remorse 
of having despised and rejected the means of escape, 
when they had them in their power; like the rich man 
in hell, whose torment was grievously augmented by 
the sight of Lazarus afar off in the bosom of Abra¬ 
ham. 

Compare with these, the feelings of Noah and his 
little family within the ark. They enjoy a refuge of 
God’s providing. They have full assurance of the 
divine protection. Ample provision for the evil day 
is made. O what gratitude to their Almighty Friend ! 
O what fervent love among themselves ! O what holy 
composure and rest in God ! O what awful reflections 
Vol. I. L 


82 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECT. VII. 


on the justice and severity of the great Jehovah ! O 
what sweet and satisfying meditations on his mercy l 

The sequel of Noah’s history, and the comparison 
between him and Adam, and between him and Christ, 
will, if God permit, be the subject of the next Lecture. 

We cannot conclude the present without reflecting 

On the danger and mischief which arise from form- ^ 
ing graceless connections. It administers a solemn 
and suitable admonition to the male part of my audi¬ 
ence, who have not already contracted alliances for life, 
to consider a principle of religion, and a taste for devo¬ 
tion as among the leading qualities to be sought after in 
the female character, and the only sure foundation of 
honourable and lasting friendship ; as the basis of, and 
the prompter to, every domestic duty. 

It administers a just, and, I am sorry to add, a sea¬ 
sonable reproof, to that spirit of avarice and selfishness, 
together with that criminal love of pleasure, which too 
much characterize the young men of the present day, 
and to w 7 hich the higher considerations of piety, modes¬ 
ty, and accomplishments really useful and ornamental, 
are daily sacrificed. 

It instructs my female hearers, too, in the knowledge 
of what constitutes their real worth and excellence. 

“ Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain : but a woman 
thatfeareth the Lord, she shall be praised,” Prov. xxxi. 

3(X General declaimers against the female sex have 
got excellent topics for their spleen, in the seduction of 
the first man by Eve, and the corruption of the old 
world by the daughters of Cain. I would make a 
kinder use of these sad events, by considering them as 
instances of the great power which women have over 
men ; and hence earnestly call upon Christian women, 
to cultivate w ith care and diligence the graces of that 
character, and to employ their influence, according to 
their different relations and opportunities, to diffuse a 
taste for what is decent, pious, and praise-worthy; and 
they may rest assured that their friends of the other 


LECT. VII. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


83 


sex will at least study to appear, what they would have 
them to be. 

The example of Noah is a loud call to aim at singu¬ 
lar goodness. The multitude of offenders lessens nei¬ 
ther the criminality, nor the danger of any one. Let 
none then think u of following a multitude to do evil.” 
Community in vice may seem to diminish the guilt of 
sin, but community in suffering is a bitter aggravation 
of it. Dare to stand, though alone, in the cause of 
God and truth ; knowing that wicked men themselves 
revere that goodness which they do not love, and se¬ 
cretly approve the virtue which they will not cultivate. 
Remember who hath said, “ Whosoever shall confess 
me before men, him will I confess also before my Fa¬ 
ther which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny 
me before men, him will I also deny before my Father 
which is in heaven.” 

You have heard of the destruction, of the old world 
by water; your eyes shall behold that which now is, 
destroyed by fire. The preservation of Noah by means 
which God appointed, is a striking type of the method 
of salvation from sin, death and hell, by Jesus Christ. 
The present day of merciful visitation, is the precious 
season of resorting to that strong hold and place of de¬ 
fence ; and to you the call is once more given, “ look 
to me and be saved ;” “ come to me all ye that labour 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 


HISTORY OF NOAH, 


LECTURE VIII. 

And God remembered Noah , and every Irving thing , and 
all the cattle that was with him in the arfc: and God 
made a wind to pass over the earth , and the waters 
assuaged.*— Gen. viii. 1. 

The word and the providence of God are the only 
infallible interpreters of his nature. The existence, 
and the order of the visible creation , evince the being 
of one Eternal Cause of all things, infinite in wisdom, 
power, holiness, justice, goodness, mercy and truth. 
But the harmony, the extent and limits of the divine 
attributes and perfections, are to be discovered only by 
observing what comes to pass ; and by reading and 
understanding what God has been pleased to commit 
to writing, for our instruction. The light of nature is 
sufficient, for example, to instruct us, that God is right¬ 
eous ; and experience assures us, that he is merciful; 
but without the help of revelation, and the history of 
providence, we could not, we durst not say, where jus¬ 
tice would stop, and when the tide of mercy would be¬ 
gin to flow. And is it not pleasant and encouraging 
to reflect, upon the authority of both scripture and ex¬ 
perience, that justice, the awful and formidable perfec¬ 
tion of the most high God, has its bounds ; whereas 
goodness and tender mercy swell over all limits, pos¬ 
sessing a heighth and depth, a length and breadth, 
which surpass knowledge ? Justice, is the river confined 
within its banks, and terminating its course in the sea ; 
mercy, the unconfined, immeasurable ocean, in sur¬ 
veying the vast extent of which, the eye fails, and 




LECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


85 


thought itself is lost. It is, moreover, delightful to 
consider, that the very judgments of Heaven, however 
dreadful in their nature and effects, are upon the whole, 
and in the end, unspeakable blessings. The wrath of 
man, and judgments of which men are the authors, like 
uncontrouled rage of devouring flames, spare nothing : 
they consume root and branch together : but divine jus¬ 
tice, like the refiner’s fire, lays hold only of the dross, and 
bestows on the remaining ore greater purity and value. 

The history of the deluge, among many other in¬ 
stances which might be adduced, is a plain and a stri¬ 
king illustration of these observations. The last Lec¬ 
ture exhibited the fearful triumph of divine justice. 
We beheld heaven from above, the earth and ocean 
from beneath, uniting their forces in their Maker’s cause; 
“ the windows of heaven opened,” the “ fountains of 
the great deep broken up,” blending their waters, to 
overwhelm a world of ungodly men. What a prospect 
did this globe then present to the surrounding spheres ! 
Involved in gross darkness for forty days together : and 
when the light returns, no dry land appears, for even 
u all the high hills which were under the whole heaven 
were covered:” And O, tremendous object of divine 
vengeance! “ All flesh died, that moved upon the 

earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and 
of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, 
and every man. All, in whose nostrils was the breath 
of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And 
every living substance was destroyed which was upon 
the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the 
creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven ; and they 
were destroyed from the earth : and Noah only remain¬ 
ed alive, and they that were with him in the ark,” Gen. 
vii. 21, 22, 23, 24. “ It is a fearful thing to fall into 

the hands of the living God.” 

At length the tempest of wrath spends itself. At 
length, after a night so dark, so dreary, and so long, 
the morning light begins to dawn. Nothing but water 


86 HISTORY OF NOAH. LECT. VIII. 

is to be seen, except yonder little bark floating on the 
mighty surge, which threatens every moment to swal¬ 
low it up, or to dash it impetuously on some rocky 
mountain’s top. It contains the sad remainder of the 
human race ; the hope of all future generations. It is 
preserved, not by the power of him who constructed, 
but of him who designed it, and who directed it to be 
built. It is guided, not by the skill of the mariner, 
but steered by the hand of Providence. That a ves¬ 
sel of such construction, should preserve its upright 
position for so long a time, in such a wild uproar of na¬ 
ture, must be ascribed to a perpetual supernatural in¬ 
terposition. 

The ark has proved the protection and preservation 
of Noah ; but is it not his prison also ? How gladly do 
we submit to a temporary inconveniency for the sake 
of a great and lasting good! But the inconveniences 
to which we submit in fulfilling the designs of Provi¬ 
dence shall not be prolonged beyond their needful peri¬ 
od, nor increased beyond our strength. What an ami¬ 
able view of the mercy and condescension of God is 
presented to us at this period of Noah’s history ! 44 O 
Lord, thou preservest man and beast!” And 44 doth 
God take care for oxen ?” 44 God remembered Noah, 
and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with 
him in the ark : and God made a wind to pass over 
the earth, and the waters assuaged.” He who makes 
sphere to balance sphere, in the great system of nature, 
can make one element check and control the rage of 
another, in the subordinate economy of our little globe. 
Wind stops the progress, and diminishes the fury of 
water at God’s command. The dominion of any one 
element prevailing too long, must soon prove fatal to 
the whole; but their powers blending with, opposing, 
balancing each other, produce that wonderful and de¬ 
lightful harmony, on which the being and the happi¬ 
ness of mankind depend. 44 The waters prevailed one 
one hundred and fifty days, and after the end of them, 
they were abated.” 


LECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


87 


According to the best chronological calculations, the 
different eras or stages of this great event, adapted to 
our reckoning of time, are thus fixed: A few days af¬ 
ter the death of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, who 
was bom two hundred and forty-three years before 
Adam died, and in whose person of course, the crea¬ 
tion of the world and the flood seemed almost to meet; 
I say, a few days after Methuselah's death, God com¬ 
manded Noah, on the tenth day of the second month, 
answering to the thirtieth of November, in the year of 
the world one thousand six hundred and fifty-six, and 
before Christ two thousand three hundred and forty- 
eight, to prepare that week for going into the ark, and 
to receive all the living creatures which came thither by 
direction of Providence, in the course of seven days. 

On the seventeenth day of the second month, or 
the seventh of December, in the six hundredth year of 
Noah’s life, the deluge began, after the Lord had shut 
him in with all his family. The rain from heaven, and 
the flux from the ocean, continued without intermis¬ 
sion, forty days and forty nights, till the waters prevail¬ 
ed fifteen cubits above the ^highest mountains; and 
then stayed, on the seventeenth of January. It con¬ 
tinued flood one hundred and fifty days, including the 
forty days from its commencement to its full height; 
that is, to the seventeenth day of the seventh month, 
or the sixth of May, when the flood abated, and the ark 
rested upon one of the mountains of Ararat or Arme¬ 
nia . On the first day of the tenth month, or July nine¬ 
teenth, the waters still continuing to decrease, the tops 
of the neighbouring mountains became visible from 
the ark. At the end of forty days from thence, on the 
eleventh day of the eleventh month, or the twenty- 
eighth of August, Noah opened the window of the ark, 
and sent forth the raven, which never returned to him. 
After expecting her for seven days in vain, on the third 
of September, he sent forth the dove, which returned 
to him the same day, having found no rest for the sole 


88 


HISTORY OP NOAH. 


LECT. VIII. 


of her foot, through the continuance of the waters. 
After seven days more, on the tenth of September, he 
again sends forth the dove, which returned in the even¬ 
ing, with an olive leaf in her mouth, a proof that the 
waters had decreased below the height of that plant. 
After waiting yet seven days more, Noah again sends 
forth the dove, on September seventeenth, which re¬ 
turned not again to him, a proof that the “ ground was 
dry,” and that this bird could now find food to sustain 
life, out of the ark. 

On the first day of the first month, answering to 
October the twenty-third, in the year of the world one 
thousand six hundred and fifty-seven, when Noah en¬ 
tered into the six hundred and first year of his age, on 
this first day of the new world, he removed the cover¬ 
ing of the ark, and beheld that the ground was dry. 
And finally, on the twenty-seventh of the second 
month of this new year, or December the eighteenth, 
at God’s command, who had shut him in, Noah came 
out of the ark, and all who were with him, in perfect 
safety ; after they had been confined therein the space 
of one year and eleven days. 

And now that he is liberated from so long confine¬ 
ment, what are his first sentiments ; what is the .first 
use he makes of restored liberty ? It is neither a day 
of business, nor of pleasure, for himself, but of piety 
and gratitude towards God. A portion of the animals, 
hitherto cherished and protected with so much care and 
tenderness ; and preserved in the general wreck of na¬ 
ture, must yield their lives, and pour out their blood by 
their patron’s hand, at God’s altar. Was not this a 
direct acknowledgment, that his own life was forfeited 
with those of the rest of mankind; but spared by an 
act of distinguishing grace ? The stock of living crea¬ 
tures was awfully reduced by the deluge ; and this con¬ 
sideration, with a wordly and selfish mind, might have 
been pleaded as an excuse for delaying sacrifice till 
victims were multiplied by length of time. But when 


LECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


89 


works of piety, charity, or mercy are to be performed, 
a gracious spirit considers the urgency of the call, rather 
than the largeness of means. What is saved from 
God and the wretched, from religion and humanity, 
will never make any one rich. What is bestowed on 
works of piety and mercy, is property laid out at more 
than common interest. Did Noah’s six couple of 
beasts, and of birds, increase more slowly, that the 
seventh was devoted in sacrifice to his Maker and Pre¬ 
server ? I suppose not. In this, if in any sense, what 
the wise man says is true, “ there is that scattereth and 
yet aboundeth; there is that withholdeth more than is 
meet, and it tendeth to poverty.” O how acceptable 
to God are the sacrifices of an humble, grateful, faith¬ 
ful heart! The ground that was cursed for the offence 
of one, and deluged for the ofFences of many, by the 
faith and piety of one, is delivered from the curse, and 
for ever secured from the danger of a second flood: 
“ And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord 
said in his heart, 1 will not again curse the ground for 
man’s sake ; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil 
from his youth ; neither will I again smite any more 
every living thing, as I have done,” Gen. viii. 21. 

Having satisfied the demands, and received the con¬ 
solations of religion, Noah and his sons are dismissed 
of God to their secular employments, to the possession 
and cultivation of their spacious inheritance. All the 
grants which had been given to the first man, and all 
the blessings pronounced upon him, are renewed to 
Noah and his family. The whole animal creation is 
afresh subjected to their power and authority. And 
now, for the first time, we read of the flesh of animals 
being permitted unto man for food. But, in the very 
same breath, the use of blood is forbidden to mankind. 
Was it intended to admonish men to be tender of the 
lives of the brute creation; and not to take away, 
wantonly and unnecessarily, what they are unable to 
restore ? Was it to teach men not to use as common 
Vol. I. M 


90 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECT. VIII. 


food what was, from the beginning, the symbol of 
atonement? Is it that the thing prohibited is unfit 
and unwholesome for ailment? Was, it by placing a 
fence round that which constitutes the life of a beast, to 
guard with the greater sanctity the life of man ! The in¬ 
terdiction undoubtedly has a meaning, for none of the 
precepts of God are merely arbitrary. Wherever he 
interposes by a special mandate, there we may rest 
assured, some end of piety, of purity, or of mercy is to 
be accomplished by it. 

God never communicates his grace by halves. He 
is but half preserved, who has escaped one great cala¬ 
mity, if he must afterwards live in perpetual fear. 
Noah’s family has outlived the deluge: but every dark 
cloud is a memorial of that grievous plague, and a 
threatening of its return. Every watery cloud there¬ 
fore, with the sun in opposition to it, shall be an assu¬ 
rance, written in the most distinct characters, to them 
and ail generations of men following, that “ the waters 
shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” 
The bow 7 in the clouds existed no doubt before this; 
the natural cause always and uniformly must produce 
the same effects; but it has now’ a use and meaning 
unknown before. It formerly manfested in its most 
beautiful colours, stupendous size, and exact shape and 
form, the God of nature ; now it has become a witness 
for the God of grace . It was always an object beauti¬ 
ful to behold but O, how much greater its excellence 
and importance, as the token of God’s covenant! 
When natural appearances lead to saving acquaintance 
with Nature’s God, then they are truly valuable > and 
useful. 

We are now come to the last memorable event of 
Noah’s life ; which, though far less honourable for him 
than those which preceded it, the sacred historian has 
nevertheless recorded, with the same exactness and 
fidelity which he has employed in transmitting the rest 
of his history. Noah, though advanced to a late period 


LECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


91 


in life, and assured that henceforth the duration of hu¬ 
man life was to be greatly abridged, engages with alac¬ 
rity in the labours of husbandry. That God who 
thought fit to save him from the flood, by an ark of his 
own building, will not preserve him alive but by fruits 
of his own raising. He who would reap the clusters of 
the vine, must first plant, shelter, prop, and prune the 
vine. But behold the juice of the grape in a new state; 
possessing a quality unheard of before. Eaten from 
the tree, or dried in the sun, it is simple, and nutri- 
cious like the grain from the stalk of corn ; pressed out 
and fermented, it acquires a fiery force, it warms the 
blood, it mounts to the brain, it leads reason captive, 
it overpowers every faculty, it triumphs over its lord. 
How often have arts been invented, which have proved 
fatal to the inventors ! Every poison, it is said, con¬ 
tains, or is produced contiguous to, its antidote. Such 
is the care, such the goodness of God to men. But 
alas ! must it not also be observed, that our very food 
and cordials contain a poison, through the ignorance or 
excess of man. Was Noah unacquainted with this 
intoxicating quality of wine, and overtaken through 
inexperience ? Or did the faithful monitor of the old 
world, and the father of the new, deliberately sacrifice 
decency and understanding to this insinuating foe ? In 
either case, who can help deploring his shameful, his 
degraded condition; and the consequences which flow¬ 
ed from it! We pity the dishonoured father ; but we 
detest the unnatural son, who could make sport of his 
parent’s shame. He who intoxicates himself does ill; 
but he who in cool blood, can take an indecent, or an 
injurious advantage of the intoxication of another, does 
worse. The modesty and dutifulness of two of Noah’s 
sons, exhibit a lovely and instructive axample to youth ; 
their ingenuous shame, their eagerness to conceal the 
infirmity of their father. They deserve to be blessed 
with numerous and thriving families, who have prac¬ 
tised duty and obedience to their parents. This 


92 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECT. VIII. 


accordingly is the blessing entailed upon Shem and 
Japhet; and Ham’s disrespectful and indecent beha¬ 
viour towards his father, is in like manner punished in 
the entail of a lasting and heavy curse upon his off¬ 
spring. Of all the precepts of the law, the fifth most 
obviously, directly, and certainly requites the breach, 
or the observance of itself. Noah awakes from his 
wine, and meets the reproof of his intemperance, in the 
knowledge of what his sons had done unto him, when 
he was not himself. And what reproof so keen and 
severe to an ingenious mind like his, as the reflection 
that he had made himself an object of scorn and deri¬ 
sion to one part of his own family, and of sorrow and 
pity to the other ? 

At length the period arrives that Noah must die ; and 
he who had seen the world in three different states as it 
came from the hands of the Creator, unless as it was 
affected by the fall—covered over with the waters of a 
flood—and restored again through the mercy of Heaven, 
at last sinks into the grave, and ceases to have anv 

farther interest in the world. He survives that great 

destruction, the deluge, three hundred and fifty years ; 
lives to instruct a new race of men in the knowledge, 
the love, and the worship of the true God; lives to see 
his progeny increased and multiplied, and spreading on 
every side ; lives to exhibit to a short-lived race of mor¬ 
tals an example of patriarchal dignity and longevity; 
and dies at the age of nine hundred and fifty years; 
short of the life of Methuselah only by nineteen. 

From that period, the life of man began gradually to 

decrease, till it shrunk into its present little meausure. 
Whether life be long or short, “ death certainly is the 
end of all men, and the living should lay it to his 
heart.” 

Noah and Adam may be compared and contrasted 
in various respects. Adam the father of the first 
world; Noah of the second. Adam, by one wilful 
transgression, involved all mankind in ruin ; Noah, by 


LECT. VIII. 


HISTOEY OF NOAH. 


93 


many repeated efforts, in vain endeavoured to save man¬ 
kind from impending destruction. The unbelief and 
disobedience of Adam affected all; the faith of Noah 
preserved a remnant. The grant of the whole globe 
was conferred on these two alone, of all mankind. For 
the crime of the one, the earth was cursed; through 
the sacrifice of the other, the curse was withdrawn. In 
both, their own ill behaviour was punished in the ill 
conduct and behaviour, and in the punishment of their 
children. Upon the guilty son of Adam, God pro¬ 
nounces sentence, and executes judgment in person : 
the injured father himself, in the case of Noah, is made 
the minister of wrath, to denounce the vengeance of 
God upon his own guilty son. 

Adam and Noah were both distinguished types of 
Christ, and from this they derive their chief dignity 
and importance. Some interpreters, who wish to find 
out an evangelical meaning to every the minutest cir¬ 
cumstance in sacred records of the Old Testament, 
have alleged, that the import of the names of the ante¬ 
diluvian patriarchs, taken in their order, contain a pro¬ 
phecy of the Messiah; with which I shall present you, 
rather as discovering an honest zeal for the prevalency 
of gospel ideas, than as containing a solid and satisfac¬ 
tory argument, in support of gospel truth. Blessed be 
God, our most holy faith is built on a broader, surer, 
and more immoveable foundation that the uncertain 
and arbitrary interpretation of a few Hebrew names. 
But the speculation is at least innocent, and may per¬ 
haps have afforded some degree of consolation to the 
pious minds which have adopted it. The explanation 
of the names alluded to is this.— Adam , man : Seth, 
placed : Enos , in misery : Cainan , lamentable : Maha - 
lalecU the blessed God : Jared , shall come : Enoch f 
teaching : Methusalah , that death shall send ; Lamech y 
to the smitten, or miserable : Noah , consolation. But 
we are fully warranted by many clear, indubitable, and 
explicit applications of scripture, “ to preach the un- 


94 


HISTORY OF NOAH. 


LECT. VIII. 


searchable riches of the gospel of Christ,” from the 
history of Noah. Shall I encroach upon your patience, 
and proceed to it now ? or implore your candour for 
an attentive hearing of it, extended to its proper length, 
and displayed in its minuter circumstances, in a future 
Lecture ? I must trespass no longer upon the former; 
but rather trust to the latter. And the more, that I 
cannot but wish both preacher and hearers might bring 
freshness of spirits, patience of attention, and thirst of 
improvement, to a subject of first-rate importance in 
the scale of divine truth. And now may He who, 
by an ark of Gopher-wood, saved Noah and his house¬ 
hold from a deluge of water, deliver us, by the grace of 
his Son Christ Jesus, from that more dreadful deluge 
of fire, which scripture assures us shall come upon the 
“ world of the ungodly.” “ Flee now to your strong 
hold, ye prisoners of hope : behold now is the excepted 
time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” To the 
God of mercy, through the Son of his love be ascribed 
immortal praise. Amen. 


NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. 


LECTURE IX. 

For a small moment have I forsaken thee , but with great 
mercies will I gather thee . In a little wrath I hid my 
face from thee , for a moment; but with everlasting 
kindness will I have mercy on thee , saith the Lord thy 
Redeemer . For this is as the waters of Noah unto 
me: For as 1 have sworn that the waters of Noah 
should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn 
that I would not be wroth with thee , nor rebuke thee . 
For the mountains shall depart , and the hills be remo¬ 
ved; but my kindness shall not depart from thee , nei¬ 
ther shall the covenant of my peace be removed , saitli 
the Lord , that hath mercy on thee .—Isai. liv. 7, 8, 
9 , 10 . 

As the lesser streams fall into, and are mixed with, 
the greater; and as all the rivers empty themselves, and 
are lost in the ocean; so the whole course of events, 
from the creation of the world, in their separate cur¬ 
rents, and in their general and combined tide, flows to¬ 
wards one grand era, styled in scripture, the fullness of 
time ; and terminates in one event, of infinitely greater 
moment than all the rest, “ the manifestation of the Son 
of God in the flesh.” The patriarchal dignity, prophe 
tic foreknowledge and penetration; the sancaity of the 
priesthood, and the regal majesty, all point out, all 
move towards, all centre, and settle in Him, who is 
“ the everlasting Father,” “ the Prophet who should 
arise,” “ the Apostle and High Priest of our profes¬ 
sion,” “ the Prince of the kings of the earth.” 




96 


NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. IX. 


We are struck with a pleasing awe when we con¬ 
verse with the venerable men who lived before the 
hood. Adam the first of men ; Enoch who walked with 
God; Noah the preserver and restorer of the human 
race. 

But in tracing the history of their live, a still small 
voice continually whispers us in the ear, saying, A 
greater than Adam, a greater than Enoch, a greater 
than Noah is here : a voice from heaven proclaims, sin¬ 
ners, attend; 46 Behold my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased, hear ye him.” Some, with more zeal 
and honesty, than wisdom and truth, have laboured 
to discover and to establish a resemblance between our 
blessed Lord and those who w 7 ere types of him, in every 
the minutest circumstance of their lives, and in every 
expression they employ to describe their private and 
personal feelings and situations. This has been carried 
so far as to strain and stretch the penetential language 
of David in the fifty first psalm, respecting the matter 
of Uriah, into expressions suitable to the character and 
condition of the Messiah, in certain supposed circum¬ 
stances. Guarding ourselves against every thing like 
a forced construction and application of scripture ; with¬ 
out hunting after fanciful resemblances, which tend to 
weaken and impair the truth, instead of strengthening 
and supporting it; we will endeavour, carefully to point 
out and improve those which actually exist; namely, 
such as the Spirit of God directs us to form, by point¬ 
ing them out to us in the written w ord ; or such as by 
fair analogy, that is, from known and admitted facts, or 
from obvious and incontrovertible reasonings, we are 
warranted to form for ourselves. 

Happily, the history of Noah is one of those, in 
the use and application of which, scripture has lent us 
much assistance. The very name of that patriarch was 
not given him without a meaning and design, which 
extended much farther than to his person, and the day 
in which he lived. “ This same,” said his pious father 


LECT. IX. NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. 


97 


“ shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our 
hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath 
cursed,” Gen. v. 29. Noah signifies comfort , rest,peace. 
And when God is bringing his first-begotten into the 
world, this is his proclamation by the mouth of his pro¬ 
phet, “ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your 
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry 
unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her ini¬ 
quity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s 
hand double for all her sins,” Isai. xl. 1, 2. And that 
we may be at no loss to what period and to what per¬ 
son these expressions are to be applied, it immediately 
follows, “ The voice of him that crieth in the wilder¬ 
ness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in 
the desart a highway for our God. Every valley shall 
be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be" made 
low : and the crooked shall be made straight, and the 
rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall 
be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the 
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” Isai. xi. 3, 4, 5. Was 
Noah an expected deliverer from the curse pronounced 
upon the ground for man’s disobedience ? Alas ! the 
curse continued nevertheless; nay, the very blessings 
of life become accursed to every impenitent transgres¬ 
sor : but Christ “ is our peace, who hath redeemed us 
from the curse,” not of the ground, but of the law, 
“ being made a curse for us;” and under whose domi¬ 
nion, when finally established, “ there shall be no more 
curse.” 

“ Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and 
of Christ he saith, “ Behold my servant whom I up¬ 
hold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth.” “ Noah 
was a just man, and perfect in his generations and 
of whom speaks the prophet, when he saith, 4 4 he had 
done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth ?” 
and the apostle, “ who did no sin, neither was guile 
found in his mouth?” and again, “ such an High Priest 
Vol. I. 1ST 


98 


NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. IX. 


became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate 
from sinners.” Noah was a preacher of righteousness ; 
and the spirit of prophecy puts these words into the 
mouth of the Messiah himself, “ I delight to do thy 
will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. I 
have preached righteousness in the great congregation; 
I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. 
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart, I 
declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not 
concealed thy loving kindness, and thy truth, from the 
great congregation,” Psalm xl. 8, 9,10. Noah preached, 
and preached in vain, to a corrupted, hardened gene¬ 
ration, ripe for the destruction of a flood; Jesus, with 
similar mortification and regret, preached to an impeni¬ 
tent, incorrigible nation, devoted to destruction by 
means of a Roman army. “ Noah walked with God:” 
Christ says of himself, “ I and my Father are one;” and 
“ my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to 
finish his work.” But Noah, though righteous, could 
not by that righteousness save the men of his genera¬ 
tion from the judgments of God: his faith and holiness 
availed himself, and those who with him feared, believ¬ 
ed, and prepared; but could not save another: and 
there is a supposed state of corruption so great, and 
a day of vengeance so awful, that though these three 
men, Noah , Daniel , and Job , were in the land, they 
should deliver but their own souls by their righteous¬ 
ness ; f>ut the righteousness of the blessed Redeemer is 
of such infinite value and perfection, as to deliver from 
spiritual and eternal death an innumerable multitude 
of transgressors. 

But the most memorable incident in the history of 
Noah’s life, was the “ building of the ark for the saving 
of his house.” Every circumstance relating to which, 
exhibited a figure of him who was to come. And first, 
they exactly coincide in respect of the design or con¬ 
trivance. The plan of the ark was formed in the eter- 


LECT. IX. NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. 


99 


nal mind, long before it was communicated to Noah ; 
thus believers are “chosen of God in Christ before the 
foundation of the world.” To human apprehension at 
first sight, and to human understanding enlightened by- 
experience, and the astonishing improvements made in 
naval architecture, a vessel of such construction would 
be far from appearing the likeliest means of preserva¬ 
tion from a calamity like the deluge. Not a seamen or 
ship-builder in Britain, but would pronounce it a clumsy 
piece of work, would affirm it could not possibly live at 
sea, and predict its foundering in the deep, even with¬ 
out the attack of a storm. Thus “ the cross was to the 
Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness ; 
but to them who believe, Christ is the power of God, 
and the wisdom of God.” We read of no other me¬ 
thods of safety being thought of, or attempted, by the 
thoughtless men of the antediluvian world. When the 
evil overtook them, they would naturally flee to such 
wretched refuge as despair pointed out; but whatever 
other means of salvation in the great and terrible day 
of the Lord, human imagination may have devised, the 
scripture saith expressly, “ Neither is there salvation in 
any other: for there is none other name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved,” Acts 
iv. 12—and unavailing, in that day, will be the des¬ 
ponding invocations of impenitent sinners, to “ the 
rocks to fall upon them, and to the hills to cover 
them from the presence of God, and the wrath of the 
Lamb.” 

As the ark was a type of the Messiah, being both 
designs of infinite wisdom ; so do they also coincide in 
the end or purpose to which they were destined, the 
salvation of those who fled, and who flee thither for 
refuge. “ Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his 
house:” and “ God so loved the world, that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John iii. 
16—and “ after that, in the wisdom of God, the world 


100 


NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. IX. 


by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the fool¬ 
ishness of preaching to save them that believe,” i Cor. 
i. 21. Both of them fully and perfectly answer the 
end of their institution. The ark was at once a place 
of shelter from the storm ; contained all necessary ac¬ 
commodation and provision; furnished opportunity and 
means of the most delightful communion and fellow¬ 
ship ; and constituted the dearest bond of union and 
love. Who does not see in this, that wonderful person 
of whom prophecy thus speaks, “ A man shall be as a 
hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tem¬ 
pest : as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of 
a great rock in a weary land,” Isai. xxxii. 2. In whom 
“ it has pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell;” 
of whom “ the whole family in heaven and earth is na¬ 
med who thus declares in his own person, “ those 
that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is 
lost,” who enjoins them “ to love one another,” and 
prays for them, that “ they all may be one , as thou 
Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may 
be one in us.” 

The attractive influence of the gospel, and its bles¬ 
sed tendency to tame and subdue the high thoughts, 
and the savage dispositions of the human heart, were 
beautifully prefigured by the instinctive call of Provi¬ 
dence to the brute creation to seek shelter in the ark, 
and by the placability and gentleness of their disposi¬ 
tions towards each other while they continued in it. 
The words of Isaiah are literally a history of the deluge, 
and they contain a prediction equally beautiful and 
striking of the peaceableness and concord of Christ’s 
kingdom ; “ The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, 
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the 
calf, and the young lion and the fading together, and 
a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the 
bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down toge¬ 
ther: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the 
suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the 


LECT. IX. NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. 


101 


weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy moun¬ 
tain ; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea,” Isai. xi. 6—9. 
Under the influence of Christ’s Spirit, the fierce and 
the proud, the cruel and the resentful, the envious and 
the passionate, “ put on as the elect of God, holy 
and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humble¬ 
ness of mind, meekness, long-suffering;” and learn 
to “ forbear one another, to forgive one another.” 

Again ; the figure shifting from the ark, to him who 
built and constructed it, according to the pattern giv¬ 
en him of God, Noah himself becomes the type, and 
Jesus the person typified. The plan or design of the 
ark was of God ; the execution was Noah’s; in like 
manner, the plan of redemption, which was formed of 
old, even from everlasting, God was at length mani¬ 
fested in the flesh to execute, and in it he labored and 
preserved, till bowing his head, “ it is finished.” 
What shall we say ? The very waters of the flood have 
a figurative prospect of gospel times and gospel ideas. 
The deluge was a purifier of the old world, corrupted 
and defiled by sin; and “ a few, that is, eight souls, 
were saved by water;” the antitype of which remark¬ 
able event, we are informed by the apostle Peter, is 
our salvation by baptism ; “ The like figure whereunto 
even baptism doth also now save us, (not the put¬ 
ting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a 
good conscience towards God) by the resurrection of 
Jesus Christ,” 1 Peter iii. 21. When we behold the 
same element destructive to one and salutary to ano¬ 
ther, are we not led to think of that doctrine which is 
“ unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are 
saved and in them that perish ? to the one it is a sa¬ 
vour of death unto death, and to the other a savour of 
life unto life:” and of that other under which the Bap¬ 
tist represents the power and coming of the Son of 
God? “ whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly 


102 


NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. IX. 


purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the gamer : 
but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire,” 
Matt. iii. 12. 

The wind or spirit which passeth over the earth, and 
assuaged the waters, points out to us not obscurely, 
the power of that Divine Spirit, who in the beginning 
“ moved upon the face of the deq:>,” and reduced chaos 
into order and beauty; and who through the whole 
course of providence “ sitteth upon the flood;” even 
u the Lord on high, who is mightier than the noise of 
many waters, yea than the mighty waves of the sea.” 
Is it not sweetly figurative of that dawn of hope, that 
proclamation of mercy, before which the tide of wrath 
begins to ebb and to subside ? 

The figure of the dove declares its own meaning and 
import. In the natural purity and innocence of that 
sweet bird ; in her going and returning ; in the expres¬ 
sive speed of her first excursion; in the expressive sym¬ 
bol she bore in her mouth at her second return, the 
olive-leaf; in the clear and explicit information con¬ 
veyed by her not returning again the third time, it is 
impossible not to observe a prefiguration of the purity 
and innocence of the Holy Jesus, the Mediator be¬ 
tween God and man. “ How beautiful upon the moun¬ 
tains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, 
that publisheth peace , that bringeth good tidings of 
good, that publisheth salvation!” “ Lo, the winter is 
past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on 
the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and 
the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” As the 
state of the world was gradually unfolded to Noah by 
the different appearances and conduct of his dove; so 
was the plan of redemption by Jesus Christ gradually 
disclosed to the world, in types, in allegories, and by 
predictions, till the morning light at length became 
perfect day, and “ God, who at sundry times, and in 
divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by 
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us 


LECT. IX. NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. 


103 


by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, 
by whom also he made the worlds,” Heb. i. 1,2. 

As the ark, after the tossings and tempests of the 
flood, rested safely on the top of Mount Ararat; so 
Christ, having suffered all things that were appointed, 
“ entered into his glory,” and established the faith of 
them that believe in him, upon “ a rock, against 
which the gates of hell never shall prevail.” The ark 
afforded protection to those only who fled for shelter 
under its roof, and whom God shut up within it. It 
was not merely the sight of that wonderful fabric, nor 
the knowledge and approbation of the plan, nor an ac¬ 
tive hand in the rearing of it, nor an external adherence 
to it, when the evil day came, that afforded safety to 
the miserable. Our Lord himself furnishes us with 
the application of these important circumstances, “ Not 
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will 
of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me 
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in 
thy name ? and in thy name have cast out devils ? and 
in thy name done many wonderful works ? and then 
will I profess unto them, I never knew you : depart 
from me ye that work iniquity,” Matt. vii. 21—23. 
And impressed with an awful sense of it, Paul says of 
himself, “ I therefore so run, not as uncertainly: so 
fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep 
under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that 
by any means, when I have preached to others, I my¬ 
self should be a cast away,” 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27. 

Farther; when we see Noah at the altar of God, 
offering the sacrifices of thanksgiving, presenting a vic¬ 
tim of every clean bird and beast, and God smelling a 
savour of rest; ceasing from his anger, remitting the 
curse, and establishing a new covenant upon better 
promises, we “ behold the Lamb of God who taketh 
away the sins of the world.” Christ the altar that is 
erected, the priest who officiates, and the victim which 


104 


NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. IX. 


is offered up. We behold provision made for the re- 
mission of transgressions committed under the second 
covenant, for which there was no remedy under the 
first. The passage on which this discourse is built, is 
a full and particular illustration of this. The whole 
chapter refers to the bringing in of the Gentile nations 
to the standard of the Messiah. “ For thy Maker is 
thine husband (the Lord of Hosts is his name) and thy 
Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the 
whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord has call¬ 
ed thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, 
and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy 
God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but 
with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath 
I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with ever¬ 
lasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the 
Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah 
unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah 
should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that 
I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For 
the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed ; 
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither 
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the 
Lord, that hath mercy on thee,” Isaiah liv. 5—10. 
Expressions beautifully figurative of the strength, beau¬ 
ty, and duration of the Christian church, and of the im¬ 
moveable foundation on which the Christian faith is 
built. 

Finally, the rainbow, the token of God’s covenant 
of peace with the earth, produced, in the course of na¬ 
ture, by the rays of the sun falling on a cloud impreg¬ 
nated with rain; without straining for a similitude, ex¬ 
hibits mercy rejoicing over judgment; the rays of the 
sun of righteousness reflected from, and dispersing the 
clouds of divine wrath and human guilt. It represents 
the dispensations of the Most High towards men, as 
distinguished from those spiritual beings who never 
sinned, and those who never shall be saved. In hell, 


LECT. IX. NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. 


105 


the gloom is not for a single instant dispelled by one 
beam of light, nor despair relieved by one ray of hope. 
The serenity of heaven is never obscured by one frown 
from the face of God. But our world is the theatre, 
on which are displayed, “ mercy and truth meeting 
together, righteousness and peace kissing each other;” 
“ truth springing out of the earth, and righteousness 
looking down from heaven.” The bow in the cloud is 
the reverse of that described by the Psalmist: “ He 
had bent his bow and made it ready, he hath also pre¬ 
pared for him the instruments of death : he ordaineth 
his arrows against the persecutors,” Psalm vii. 12, 13. 
No, it is a bow unbent, armed with no deadly weapon, 
and its dangerous, threatening side averted from us, 
and turned towards heaven. The bow is never to be 
seen but when one side of the heaven is clear, and the 
sun above the horizon ; unless it be by the sober, silver 
rays of the moon’s mild reflected light. Thus every thing 
useful and pleasing in nature, every thing satisfying and 
consolatory in providence, in order to be percieved and 
enjoyed, must be irradiated, explained, and applied, by 
the eternal Wisdom, the Word of God, “ the true Light 
which enlighteneth every man who cometh into the 
world;” and thus many of the objects which we are 
incapable of contemplating, by the direct and imme¬ 
diate illumination of the glorious “ Father of Lights,” 
are tempered to our preception, use, and delight, by 
reflection from other orbs. “No man hath seen God 
at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the 
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” 

Thus have we endeavoured to point out those parti¬ 
culars in the person, character, and life of Noah, which 
seem more obviously typical of Christ the Lord : but 
I cannot conclude the parellel, without directing your 
thoughts to one article of resemblance more. The old 
world having undergone the purgation of a flood, was 
delivered in its renewed state to Noah and his natural 
posterity for a possession: and from the world that is, 
Vol. I. O 


106 


NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. LECT. IX. 


when purified by fire, tc We, according to his promise, 
look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwell- 
eth righteousness. ” u He that sitteth upon the throne 
saith, Behold I make all things new ! for the former 
things are passed away.” And he that is before the 
throne saith, “ In my Father’s house are many man¬ 
sions ! if it were not so I would have told you : I go to 
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place 
for you, I will come again and receive you unto my¬ 
self, that where I am, there ye may be also. i\nd 
whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” “ Bless¬ 
ed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God ” 
u Blessed are they that do his commandmants, that 
they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter 
in through the gates into the city.” 

Let me now exhort you in the words of Christ, 
“ Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life, and they testify of Him, who is Alpha and 
Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the 
endand as you read and meditate the light will 
break in upon you, and the Saviour of the world will 
stand confessed in every page, in every line; so that 
ye may say one to another, in the words of Andrew to 
Simon his brother, “ We have found the Messias, which 
is, being interpreted, the Christ.” And when you see 
all that is venerable in respect of antiquity, all that is 
sacred in office, all that is dignified in royalty, bringing 
their glory and honour to him, lay yourselves at his feet 
and say, “ He is our Lord, and we will worship him 
for “ surely this is the Son of God.” 

And here closes the first great period of the world. 
There next ensues a very considerable space of time, 
fruitful indeed in names, but barren in events. Provi¬ 
dence has thought fit to draw a veil over it for this ob¬ 
vious reason, that however amusing or instructive the 
detail of that period might be to us, as citizens of this 
world, having no special relation to the history of 
redemption, it cannot be very deeply interesting to us 


LECT. IX. NOAH AND CHRIST COMPARED. 107 

Christians. And the design of the bible is not so much 
to convey to us natural and political knowledge, as the 
knowledge of “ the only true God, and of Jesus Christ, 
whom he hath sent, whom to know is life eternal.” 
The sacred historian accordingly hastens on to the 
times of Abraham, when the promises and predictions 
of the Messiah become more clear and express, and that 
Saviour was explicitly announced, “ in whom all the 
families of the earth” should at length be blessed. 

When we have marked the progress of the dawn, and 
observed the first rays of this rising sun, through the 
medium of type, figure, and prediction ; when we have 
considered the tokens of approaching glory in the east, 
let us look up together, and behold the splendour of the 
full-blown day; let us contemplate the glory spread 
around us, by “ the sun shining in his strength.” The 
scattered glimmerings of light a terrestrial paradise, 
the first promise of deliverance by the seed of the wo¬ 
men, Abel’s sacrifice, Enoch’s translation, Noah’s ark, 
and all that followed during so many ages, were at 
length collected and lost in that one great luminary, 
which is the light of the Christian world. But alas! 
“ this is the condemnation, that light is come into the 
world, and men loved darkness rather than light; be¬ 
cause their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth 
evil hateth the light; neither cometh to the light, lest 
his deeds should be reproved, John iii. 19, 20. Let us 
endeavour to approve ourselves, “ children ot the light, 
and of the day and observe and follow Him, who 
thus speaks concerning himself, “ I am the light of the 
world; he that followeth me, shall not walk in dark¬ 
ness, but shall have the light of life.” 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECTURE X. 

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy 
country , andfrom thy kindred , andfrom thy father's 
house , unto a lund that I will shew thee. Ge n. xii. 1. 

It would yield neither amusement nor instruction, to 
lay before you in detail, the genealogical succession 
of the sons of Noah, from the flood to the calling of 
Abram. Scripture presents us with a very general view 
of that period. It shews us mankind engaged in pur¬ 
suits common to men in every age. It exhibits the 
usual and natural operations, and the effects of pride, 
and ambition, and avarice: plans of empire formed ; 
imperial cities founded; new discoveries made, and 
settlements established. For a considerable time, the 
recent horrors of the deluge must have laid fast hold of 
the minds of men, as the awful monuments of it were 
every where before their eyes. This would naturally, 
for a while, confine them to the mountainous regions 
of Armenia, where the ark first rested. But as their 
fears diminished, and their numbers increased, we find 
them, allured by the beauty and fertility of the plains, 
which were washed by the Tygres and the Euphrates, 
descending gradually from the heights, and spreading 
along the vast and fruitful valleys of Shinar or Chaldea. 
And he who had seen the whole human race cut off for 
their wickedness, his own family consisting of eight per¬ 
sons excepted, lived to see the descendants of that fami¬ 
ly? almost as numerous and as profligate as the genera¬ 
tion of men which had been destroyed by the flood. He 
had the mortification, in particular, of seeing his poste- 




LECT. X. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


109 


rity engaged in an enterprise equally absurd, vain, and 
impious: that of building “ a city and a tower whose 
top should reach unto heaven,” to transmit their names 
with renown to posterity, to be the great seat of em¬ 
pire, and thereby the means of preserving them in one 
grand system of political union, and of securing them 
from discord and dispersion. 

The sacred volume informs us, that the very means 
which they had vainly devised to keep themselves toge¬ 
ther, in the wisdom of God, separated and scattered 
them. But the history of that event falls not within 
the design of these exercises. Leaving Nimrod and 
his vain-glorious companions to erect the monument of 
their folly, and to feel the consequences of their impie¬ 
ty, let us attend the sacred historian in tracing, not the 
rise and progress of empire, but the formation, the un¬ 
folding, aud the execution of the plan of redemption. 
Dropping the mighty founders of Neneveh and Baby¬ 
lon in that oblivion wherein providence has plunged 
them never to emerge, let us accompany the father of 
the faithful from Ur of the Chaldees to the place of his 
destination, and observe the increasing splendor of the 
day of grace, and adore the wisdom, truth, and faithful¬ 
ness of Him who promised, and who “ hath done as he 
had said.” 

It may be proper to observe, in the entrance of the 
history of this great patriarch, that one life, that of 
Noah, almost connects Adam with Abram. For Noah 
was born only one hundred and twenty-six years after 
the death of Adam, and lived till within two years of 
Abram’s birth. In one sense, therefore, the father and 
founder of the Jewish nation is very little more than 
the third from the first man. So readily, immediately, 
and uninterruptedly, might the knowledge of import¬ 
ant truth, particularly the promises of salvation, be 
communicated through so long a tract of time. It is 
farther observable, that as from Adam to Noah there 
are ten generations, so likewise from Noah to Abram 


110 


HISTORY OF ABllAM. 


LECT. X. 


there are ten generations ; but the latter succeeded each 
other much faster than the former. The first ten oc¬ 
cupy a period of one thousand six hundred and fifty- 
six years ; the last is shrunk down to three hundred and 
fifty-seven. We are henceforward, therefore, to be 
conversant with lives reduced nearer to our own stand¬ 
ard. While extreme longevity was necessary to carry 
on the designs of Providence, men lived to the age of 
many centuries. When God saw it was meet to sub¬ 
stitute a written and permenent revelation, in the 
place of oral tradition from father to son, the life of 
man was shortened. 

The history of Abram’s life commences at a period 
of it, long before which, that of most men is concluded ; 
namely, at the seventy-fifth year of his age. It is never 
either too early or too late to serve and follow God. 
But the folly and presumption of youth is but too apt 
to defer matters of the greatest moment to the last 
hour; and this fatal waste of the seed-time of life, is the 
sure foundation of dishonour, remorse, and despair, in old 
age. But though our patriarch had arrived at a period 
of life so advanced, before the sacred historian introdu¬ 
ces him upon the stage, the obscurity which lies upon 
his earlier years is amply compensated by the rich, in¬ 
structive, and entertaining materials furnished from the 
divine stores, for the history of the latter part of his life. 

There is something singularly affecting, in the idea 
of an old man giving up the scenes of his youthful 
days; scenes endeared to the mind by the fond recol¬ 
lection of past joys ; foregoing his kindred and friends ; 
and becoming an exile and a wanderer, at a period 
when nature seeks repose, and when the heart cleaves 
to those objects to which it has been long accustomed. 
But that man goes on cheerfully, who knows he is fol¬ 
lowing God; he can never remove far from home, who 
has “ made the Most High his habitationhe who 
falls asleep in the bosom of a father, knows that he shall 
awake in perfect peace and safety. Accordingly, 


LECT. X. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


Ill 


“ Abram, when he was called to go out into a place 
which he should after recieve for an inheritance, obey¬ 
ed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went,” 
Heb. xi. 8. 

Abram being held forth in scripture as the pattern 
of a cheerful, prompt, and active faith in God, as we 
proceed, we shall mark the appearances and the effects 
of that faith in the successive trials to which it was ex¬ 
posed. The very first act of his obedience to the will 
of Heaven, proves the existence and the prevalency of 
this powerful principle. When called to leave his coun¬ 
try and his father’s house, u he went out, not knowing,” 
not caring , “ whither he went.” What could have 
induced him to make such a surrender, but a sense of 
his duty to God. an entire acquiescence in the wisdom 
and goodness of Providence, and a full assurance that 
his Heavenly Father both could and would indemnify 
him, for every sacrifice which he was called to make ! 
A sacrifice similar to this every real Christian virtually 
offers up, when he renounces the pomp and pleasure of 
this vain world, to the hope of “ an inheritance incor¬ 
ruptible, undefiled,, and that fadeth not away.” Hr of 
the Chaldees was become a land of idolatry. Abram’s 
nearest relations had lost the knowledge, and deviated 
from the true worship of the God of their fathers. To 
have continued there, would have been to prefer a situ¬ 
ation dangerous to religion and virtue. Why may we 
not suppose the call given him to depart, to be the im¬ 
pulse of an honest and enlightened mind, stirred at the 
sight of so many idols, and the impure rights of their 
worshippers; and promted to flee, at whatever ex¬ 
pense, from scenes of so much impiety and pollution. 
When men are to recieve immediately their indemnifi¬ 
cation or equivalent, the merit of a surrender is small; 
but it requires the faith and trust of an Abram, to take 
a general promise of God as full security. But his faith 
had to struggle, in the very setting out, with difficulties 
seemingly unsurmountable. The promises made to him 


112 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. X. 


were not only conveyed in very general terms, and 
the accomplishment removed to a great distance; but 
natural impossibilities also barred the w r ay. What a 
slender prospect must a man entertain of a numerous 
offspring, when both nature and religion prevent the 
possibility of his having children ? The Spirit of God 
therefore bestows a just tribute of praise on this part 
of his conduct, he “ believed God, and it was ac¬ 
counted to him for righteousness,” because that 
against hope, he believed in hope.” But when we 
come to examine the promise more particularly, w T e 
shall find that it contained every thing which can rouse 
and fire a noble and generous mind : personal honour 
and felicity ; “ I will bless thee and make thy name 
great:” a numerous and a thriving progeny, who to 
latest ages should acknowledge him as their founder, 
and glory in their relation to him; “I will make of 
thee a great nation, and thou shalt be a blessing:” 
universal benefit accruing to the human race from him ; 
in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” 
Behold then the illustrious exile turning his back on 
home, attended only by his aged parent sinking into 
the grave under the weight of years and infirmity ; his 
beloved Sarai; and Lot his nephew, w^ho it would 
seem, was determined to share the fortunes of his pi¬ 
ous uncle, and with him to sacrifice every worldly con¬ 
sideration to religion. With Providence for their pro¬ 
tector and guide, and the word of God for their en¬ 
couragement and consolation, they set out in confi¬ 
dence, and arrive at their destined habitation in safety. 
But God, who had provided for Abram a country, 
would nevertheless have him carry away from Chaldea, 
all his honestly acquired property; for true faith makes 
light of none of God’s benefits : and worldly prosper¬ 
ity, honorably acquired, moderately and thankfully en¬ 
joyed, is an undoubted mark of God’s favour. 

Being arrived in Canaan, God appears to Abram 
again, and informs him that this was the land which he 


LECT. X, 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


113 


had in view for him ; and renews the declaration, 
“ Unto thy seed will I give this land.” In these words 
two things are remarkable. First, a farther delay of 
the accomplishment of the promise, I will give; and 
secondly, a transferring of the gift of it, from Abram 
himself, to his seed. Each of these alone, had been 
sufficient to have cooled an ordinary ardor, to have dis¬ 
couraged an ordinary spirit. But the good man dis¬ 
covers no symptom of dissatisfaction or disappointment, 
at either the delay, or the change of destination; he does 
not so much as inquire when or how that promised off¬ 
spring of his was to arise. It is sufficient for him, that 
he is following the call of Heaven, and that he is 
blessed with the divine presence through his pilgrimage; 
with him, even “ hope deferred maketh” not “ the 
heart sick ;” he finds he is not even now come to his 
rest, yet repines not. But though he finds no house 
nor city for himself to dwell in, he finds both leisure 
and inclination to erect an altar unto God; “ and there 
builded he an altar unto the Lord who had appeared 
unto him,” Gen. xii. 7. He who has set up his rest in 
the Almighty, is everywhere and always at home; 
and a truly gracious spirit will never omit a work of 
piety and mercy, under a pretence of wanting means or 
opportunity. 

Why should we inquire in what manner God appear¬ 
ed unto Abram; or how much wiser should we be for 
knowing it? Has not the great, the almighty God, 
resistless power over our bodies and our minds ? And 
can he not make every element, every creature a vehir 
cle of his will to us ? Behold the patriarch removing 
from place to place ; “ sojourning in the land of pro¬ 
mise as in a strange land,” travelling from Sichem to 
the plain of Moreh ; from Bethel to Hai; probably 
through fear of the idolatrous Canaanites; who, we are 
told, then occupied the land. But though he sojourn, 
as the wayfaring man, but for a night, the altar is con¬ 
stituted, and the victim is offered up, Gen. xii, 8. And 
VOL. I. P 


114 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. X. 


Abram’s altar is not built in the spirit wherein many a 
sacred edifice has been since reared, and many a pious 
volume purchased, for shew, not for use;—having built 
an altar to Jehovah, “ he called upon the name of Je¬ 
hovah.” 

But a wandering life through Canaan is not the worst 
of his condition. His faith is put to a new and severe 
trial; he is driven out of that land by famine. The 
country so pompously promised, as a portion to his seed, 
when increased to the number of the sand upon the 
sea-shore, refuses subsistence sufficient to his family in 
its present diminutive state. What then ? Let nature 
or providence raise what obstacles they may, faith 
removes or surmounts them. He sits not down sud¬ 
denly with the peevish prophet, saying, “ I do well to 
be angry,” but employs sagacity and diligence to dis¬ 
cover, and to obtain the means of relief. He retires 
to Egypt, which the scarcity had not reached, or which 
it had afflicted in an inferior degree. Self-preservation 
is the first law of our nature ; “ and he that provideth 
not for his own, especially those of his own house, hath 
denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 

But where, alas, shall we find the faith that never 
staggered through unbelief; the confidence in Heaven 
that never failed ? On his entrance into Egypt, Abram 
is seized w r ith an unaccountable fit of distrust, altoge¬ 
ther unbecoming his character, and equally injurious to 
God, to Sarai, and to the king of Egypt. He is afraid 
of trusting the honour of his wife, during a temporary 
residence in a strange country, to that God, at whose 
command he had given up his native country and his 
all. He injures the friend and companion of his 
youth, in supposing her capable of being allured by the 
splendour and flattery of Egypt, to forget her duty to 
her husband. Re affronts a prince whom he knew not, 
by suspecting him of a base and criminal design against 
the peace and honour of a stranger, driven into his do¬ 
minions for relief from famine. He has recourse to the 


LECT. X. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


115 


crooked path of cunning and falsehood, when the direct 
road of fairness and truth would have served his turn 
much better. Over caution is brother to great rash¬ 
ness. He who wants to show himself over wise, soon 
proves himself to be a fool. The very means which 
Abram has devised for preserving Sarai’s chastity, ex¬ 
posed her to danger. As his sister, she might be law¬ 
fully addressed by any one; as his wife, she was consi¬ 
dered as sacred to himself; for the rights of wedlock 
were held in reverence, even by idolatrous Egyptians. 
What must have been his feelings when the imposture 
was detected ? How keen his remorse, to see Pharaoh 
and his innocent household, plagued for his fault ? The 
conscious shame of having acted wrong, and of thereby 
having brought mischief upon another, is, perhaps, the 
severest punishment an ingenuous mind can suffer. 

The next remarkable event of Abram’s life is infi¬ 
nitely more honourable for him, and which therefore we 
pursue with much greater satisfaction. Being safely 
brought back again to Canaan, he resorts to his former 
residence between Bethel and Hai, and “ pitches his 
tent by the place of the altar, which he had made there 
at the first.” And there again he renews his commu¬ 
nion with Heaven; for one failing breaks not off the 
intercourse between God and a good man. Enjoying 
here a temporary repose, his worldly substance increases 
fast upon him : for “ the blessing of the Lord it maketh 
rich.” But every earthly good thing brings its inconve¬ 
nience along with it. His brother’s son has cast in his lot 
with Abram, and is cherished by him with singular ten¬ 
derness and affection : when behold, the increase of riches 
becomes an increase of vexation. Though the masters 
are disposed to peace, the servants cannot agree. “ A 
strife arose between the herd man of Abram’s cattle and 
the herdmen of Lot’s cattle ;” and what augmented the 
folly of such a contention, it is remarked, that “ the Ca- 
naanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land 
so that their quarrel among themselves, rendered them 


116 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. X. 


more vulnerable by the common enemy. For once 
that riches promote friendship, they ten times engen¬ 
der strife; by setting on fire, envy, or jealousy, or pride, 
or some such destructive passion. The behavior of 
Abram on this occasion, merits particular notice, and 
commendation. “ And Abram said unto Lot, Let 
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, 
and between my herdmen and thy herdmen: for we 
be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee ? Sepa¬ 
rate thyself, 1 pray thee, from me ; if thou wilt take 
the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou 
depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left,” 
Gen. xiii. 8, 9. A hundred sermons preached, or a 
hundred volumes written, in favour of a peaceable gen¬ 
tle. yielding, generous, manly spirit, were far short of 
the plain and persuasive lesson taught us by this con¬ 
duct of the patriarch. But it merits a larger place in 
the history of his life, than is now left for it, in what 
remains of your time. We willingly, therefore, reserve 
it, to be drawn out into greater length, and to be press¬ 
ed more particularly, as a useful and striking example 
to believers. 

Christian, you call yourself a son of faithful Abram : 
let me see that you are actuated by his spirit. What 
sacrifice, I beseech you, are you making; what sacri¬ 
fice have you made, to conscience, to duty, to your 
Christian profession ? What worldly interest have you 
given up r What lust have you mortified ? What exer¬ 
cise of humility, of self-denial, of self-government, are 
you engaged in ? Faith in God, and submission to his 
will, were the leading principles of Abram’s life : What 
are yours ? Deal faithfully with God, and with your¬ 
selves ; and know, that to be a lover of the pleasures, 
riches, or honors of a present world, to the neglect of 
religion and its joys, is to prefer Ur of the Chaldees, 
with its impurity, impiety, and idolatry, to the love and 
worship of the living and true God. 


LECT-. X, 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


117 


Was the faith of Abram always uniform, his obedi¬ 
ence perfect, his conduct irreproachable ? No. Then 
it is not always to be imitated, nor at all to be depend¬ 
ed upon. But there is a pattern of faith and obedience 
which all may propose as an example, and upon which 
all may rest as a ground of acceptance with God. 
When such a one as Abram faulters in his duty, “ let 
him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall 
“ let none be high-minded, but fearlet us account 
no danger small, no foe contemptible, no deviation 
from the path of rectitude a light thing. Let us watch 
most diligently on our weakest side : and let us learn 
from the patience, forbearance, and tender mercy of 
God, when “ a brother is overtaken in a fault,” to 
“ restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.” 

Had Abram an altar for God, before he had a habi¬ 
tation for himself ? Learn from him, O young man, 
how to begin the world, as you wish to thrive and pros¬ 
per in it. The house in which no altar is erected to 
God, wants both a foundation and a covering. 

The family which wants the word and the worship of 
God, is not yet begun to be furnished. Make room 
for your Maker, and he will settle you in a large place. 
“ Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 
and all things shall be added to you.” 

Did Abram rule his own spirit, did he meekly recede 
from his just right, did he gently yield to an inferior, 
for the sake of peace ? Blush, O man, to think of thy 
pride and selfishness ; of thy positiveness in opinion, 
thy devotedness to interest, thy insolence in the day of 
power, thy contempt of the opinions, thy indifference 
to the feelings and the happiness of others. Look to 
Abram, and learn to be a conqueror. “ Be not over¬ 
come of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Look to 
your Father in heaven, who “ is kind to the evil and 
unthankful:” “ for he maketh his sun to rise on the 
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and 


118 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. X* 


on the unjust.” And thus “ be ye perfect, even as 
your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” 

Finally : was the word made to Abram, sure ? Has 
his name become renowned, did his progeny increase, 
where his seed planted in the promised land, and in him 
are all the families of the earth blessed ? Then learn to 
honour God by reposing confidence in him, assured that, 
“ though heaven and earth pass away, his word shall 
not pass away. 

The next Lecture will carry on the History of Abram 
“ the friend of God,” and exhibit the gradually opening 
discovery of the scheme of redemption by Jesus Christ. 
The blessing of the Almighty we implore on what is 
past, and his assistance and blessing on what is to come, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECTURE XI. 

And Abram said unto Lot , Let there be no strife , I pray, 
thee , between me and thee , and between my heramen 
and thy herdmen: for we be brethren .—Gen. xiii. 8. 

Th E history of Abram alone, occupies a larger 
space in the sacred volume than that of the whole hu¬ 
man race from the creation down to his day. Hitherto 
we have had rather sketches of character, than an ex¬ 
act delineation of the human heart; we have had hints, 
respecting remote important events, rather than an ex¬ 
act and connected narrative of facts. But the inspired 
penman, has gone into the detail of Abram’s life, from 
his being called of God to leave Ur pf the Chaldees, 
to the day of his death ; a detail including the space 
of one hundred years. Moses marks with precision 
the succession of events which befel him ; unfolds 
his character on a variety of trying and interesting oc¬ 
casions ; and discloses the operations of a good mind 
through the course of a long life, adorned with many 
virtues and excellencies, yet not exempted from blemish 
and imperfection. 

What renders the scripture history in general, and 
that of our patriarch in particular, useful and instruc¬ 
tive, is, the exhibition of private life therein presented 
to us, and the lessons of wisdom and virtue thereby 
taught to ordinary men. The intrigues of a court, the 
operations of a campaign, the consequences of a battle, 
the schemes of a statesmen, the prowess of a hero, and the 
like, represented skilfully, and adorned with the charms 



120 


HISTORY OF ABRAM# 


LECT. X# 


of eloquence, may amuse or dazzle the reader. But 
the actors being altogether out of our level, and the 
scenes entirely out of the line of our experience, though 
pleasure may, no great advantage can, result from ac¬ 
quaintance with them. To perform splendid actions, 
and to exhibit heroic virtue, is given but to a few; and 
opportunities of this kind but seldom occur in the 
course of one life. Whereas occasions to practise gen¬ 
erosity, justice, mercy, and moderation; to speak truth 
and shew kindness; to melt with pity, and glow with 
affection ; to forbear and to forgive, are administered 
to us every step we move through the world, and recur 
more frequently upon us, than even the means of gra¬ 
tifying the common appetites of hunger and thirst. 
When, therefore, we behold men of like passions with 
ourselves, placed in situations exactly similar to our 
own, practising virtues within our reach, and discover¬ 
ing a temper and disposition which, if we please to cul¬ 
tivate, we may easily attain ; then, if we read not with 
profit as well as with delight, it must be because we 
want not the power, but the inclination, to improve. 

Abram has left his kindred and father’s house at 
God’s command. Multitudes do the same thing every 
day, impelled by ambition, by avarice, by curiosity, by 
a wandering, restless disposition. Happy is he, who, 
in removing, does not leave his religion behind him; 
and who in the midst of the employments, or the de¬ 
lights of a new situation or place of residence, is not 
tempted to forget or to forsake the God of his native 
home, and of his early years. Alas, how often does 
this very metropolis prove the grave of virtuous senti¬ 
ments, of religious principles, and a regular education ! 
Though Abram be but a pilgrim in Canaan, yet he 
thrives andprospers there. As the pious soul seeks 
and finds means of intercourse with Heaven in every 
condition and state of life, so God, who suffers none to 
lose by fidelity and attachment to him, can render the 
most untoward, unsettled and dangerous condition. 


fcECT. XI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


121 


productive of real happiness; if a man’s ways please 
the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace 
with him.” 

But never do we find wealth flowing in, and increas¬ 
ing upon a man, without some corresponding peril or 
inconvenience. Either the mind is corrupted by it; or 
the possessor is exposed to be hated, envied, and plun¬ 
dered. The peace of Abram’s family had like to have 
been disturbed, by a quarrel arising out of its prosperi¬ 
ty ; but it was preserved by the good man’s wisdom, 
moderation, and condescension. The officious zeal of 
pragmatical servants has well nigh embroiled their 
peaceable and kindly affectioned masters. “ And there 
was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle, 
and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle; and the Canaanite 
and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.” How 
can any one think of security and peace in this world, 
when the rashness, malice, folly, or pride of a domes¬ 
tic, may set a man at variance with his chief friends ? 
Indeed we are vulnerable in exact proportion to the ex¬ 
tent of our possessions. 

How great is Abram’s mind, how amiable his con¬ 
duct upon this occasion ! “ And Abram said unto Lot, 
Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, 
and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we 
be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee ? Se¬ 
parate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take 
the left hand, then will I go to the right; or if thou 
depart to the right hand then will I go to the left,” 
Gen. xiii. 8, 9. Abram was the elder man; he was 
to Lot in the room of a father. Him had God dis¬ 
tinguished by special marks of his favour, and by the 
promises of future greatness and pre-eminenco. If the 
one must give way to the other, who would not in¬ 
stantly pronounce, that undoubtedly Lot ought to 
yield. Might not the call and destination of God have 
been warrantably pleaded as a reason why Abram 
should have the first choice ? Abram, no doubt, both 
Vol. I. Q 


122 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XI. 


might and could have asserted the preference : and he 
proves that he well deserved it, by giving it up. What 
person in this assembly but stands reproved or admon¬ 
ished by the example of the patriarch’s humility, mo¬ 
deration, and affability ? It is indeed a perfect contrast 
to that] tenaciousness of their opinions, that punctilious 
adherence to the last iota of their rights, that inflexibili¬ 
ty of self-love and self-conceit, that perpetual assump¬ 
tion or demand of preference or superiority, which mark 
the conduct of most men. Were it necessary to enforce 
the example of Abram by the precepts of the gospel, 
the whole spirit of Christianity, a multitude of particu¬ 
lar injunctions, and above all, the temper and conduct 
of the great pattern of all that is amiable and excellent, 
might be adduced, to expose and condemn, if not to 
cure, that selfish spirit, equally inconsistent w>th good 
sense and with religion, which exacts a perpetual sa¬ 
crifice from others, without discerning the propriety or 
necessity of making the slightest sacrifice to others in 
return. Permit me to recite a few passages on the sub¬ 
ject. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, 
to every man that is among you, not to'think of him¬ 
self more highly than he ought to think, but to think 
soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the 
measure of faith. For as we have many members in 
one body, and all members have not the same office; 
so we being many, are one body in Christ, and every 
one members one of another. Be kindly affectioned 
one to another, with brotherly love, in honour prefer¬ 
ring one another. Be of the same mind one towards 
another. Mind not high things, but condescend to 
men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably 
with all men.” Rom. xii. 3, 4, 5, 10, 16, 18. “ Let 

nothing be done through strife or vain-glory, but in 
lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than 
themselves, ” Rom. xv. 1, 2, 3, 5. “ We then that are 

strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, *md 


LECT. XI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


123 


not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please 
his neighbour for his good to edification. For even 
Christ pleased not himself; but as it is written, “ The 
reproaches of them that reproached thee, fell on me. 
Now the God of patience and consolation, grant you 
to be like-minded one towards another, according to 
Jesus Christ,” Phil. ii. 3. Thus have we precept upon 
precept, pattern upon pattern, on a subject as plain as 
the light at noon-day, and which is presenting itself to 
us almost every hour we live. But alas ! it is not 
preaching that can confer the temper of an Abram; 
and that can induce men to forego the claims which 
pride and self-conceit are incessantly urging them to 
advance. 

Behold then, Abram and his nephew at length con¬ 
strained to separate. Nature, affection, religion, afflic¬ 
tion, had all conspired to unite them; but a flow of 
worldly success dissolves their union; and the old adage 
is exemplified in them, “ relations sometimes agree 
best at a distance from one another.” The power of 
choosing was given to Lot, and he exercised it accord- 
ly; “ And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the 
plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, 
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gommorrah, 
even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, 
as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him 
all the plains of Jordan : and Lot journeyed east; and 
they separated themselves the one from the other, 
Gen. xiii. 10, 11. How wisely this choice was made, 
we shall have occasion to remark in the sequel of the 
history. 

So good a man, and a relation so kind as Abram, 
must sensibly have felt this separation from his nearest 
kinsman. But whatever blank was made in his hap¬ 
piness by the failing of this creature comfort, he has 
the consolation of reflecting, that it was not brought 
upon him through his own fault; and it is speedily and 


124 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XI. 


abundantly compensated by the visions of the Al¬ 
mighty, by the promises of Him that is faithful and true, 
and by the presence and affection of that Friend, who 
sticketh closer than a brother. “ And the Lord said 
unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, 
Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where 
thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, 
and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to 
thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And 1 will 
make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if 
man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy 
seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land, 
in the length of it, and in the breadth of it: for I will 
give it unto thee.” Gen. xiii. 14—17. There is some¬ 
thing delightfully soothing to the human heart in the 
idea of property;—one’s own home, his own field, his 
own flock. If any thing can add to the satisfaction of 
this kind of possession, it is the having acquired it ho¬ 
nourably, and the capacity of enjoying it with cheerful¬ 
ness, wisdom, and moderation. Dishonest gain can ne¬ 
ver bestow' contentment, and seldom descends to a re¬ 
mote heir. But the gratification of honest prosperity and 
success is capable of being still unspeakably heighten¬ 
ed and sweetened; namely, by the heart-composing, 
spirit-elevating consideration, that the blessing enjoyed 
is the gift of God, is the pledge of paternal love, and 
the earnest of eternal felicity. In such happy circum¬ 
stances did our patriarch inhabit the plains of Mamre ; 
blessed in the present, more blessed in the prospects of 
futurity; blessed in the fulness of this world, more 
blessed in the favour of God, which is better than life ; 
blessed in the promise of a numerous and prosperous 
offspring, infinitely more blessed in the promise of that 
holy seed in whom “all the families of the earth are 
blessed.” When w'e find the good man abiding in 
tents, a pilgrim and a stranger in Canaan, do we not 
perceive it written in legible characters, “ arise ye and 


LECT. XI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


125 


depart, for this is not your rest ?” Hear we not the 
voice of God, saying plainly, “ seek ye another coun¬ 
try, that is a heavenly one.” 

But even the life of a pilgrim, and of a shepherd, is 
not secure; neither does any worldly condition admit 
of a certain or long repose. Let a man be ever so 
peaceably inclined, how easily may he be involved in 
the feuds of contentious neighbours ? This was the case 
with Abram. In the fourteenth chapter of this sacred 
book, we have the history of a powerful confederacy of 
four kings against five; founded, no doubt, as all such 
confederacies are, in a lust of power or wealth ; or 
directed by a spirit of cruelty and revenge. It issues in 
a bloody conflict in the vale of Siddim. Sodom, where 
Lot had chosen to dwell, becomes a prey to the con¬ 
queror, and he himself is made a prisoner, and his 
goods are plundered. These facts are related by Mo¬ 
ses, and become interesting to us, merely from their 
connection with the history of Abram. What, but for 
this, are Chederlaomer , Amraphel , and Arioch , to the 
men of this day, but mere names ? Lot must now have 
grievously felt the consequences of his imprudent choice 
of a place of residence, had it not been for the friend¬ 
ship and valour of his venerable uncle ; who, roused by 
the intelligence of his nephew’s distress and danger, 
flies instantly to his relief. Behold the good old man 
exchanging his shepherd’s crook for the warrior’s spear, 
and rushing with all the ardour and impetuosity of youth 
on the insulting victor. Which shall we most admire 
in this important and interesting transaction, the 
strength and eagerness of his natural affection ; his 
honest indignation at violence and oppression; the 
skill with which he planned his enterprise: or the 
vigour, boldness, and intrepidity with which he execu- 
ed it; the moderation with which he exercised his vic¬ 
tory ; his disinterestedness in declining any share of 
the fruits of it for himself; or his justice and good faith 
in attending to, and supporting the just right of his 


126 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XI. 


allies ? All, all together, constitute an unequivocal and 
a brilliant proof, of a mind, truly noble and dignified : 
ana his conduct on this occasion suggests a crowd of 
reflections both pleasing and useful. 

Remember, Christians, it is the same man, who for 
the sake of peace with a brother, gave up his just claim 
to a junior and inferiour; that was not afraid in the 
cause of the injured and oppressed, to attack a numer¬ 
ous host, headed by princes, and flushed with victory. 
With whom then does true magnanimity reside ?— 
Surely with the humble and condescending. The man 
who has subdued his own spirit is invincible. Behold 
in this the nature and the foundation of true courage. 
It is not to make light of life; it is not “ to rush like 
the horse into battle it is not to talk high swelling 
W'ords of vanity : It is to fear God ; it is to be calm and 
composed in danger ; it is to possess hope beyond the 
grave , it is to be superiour to the pride, and incapable 
of the insulting triumph of success. Behold how the 
kindred graces and virtues delight to reside in unity 
and harmony, in the bosom of a good man ! Neither 
good nor bad qualities are to be found solitary in the 
breast of any one. Is a man pious ? Then he is hum¬ 
ble. Is he humble ? Then, meek and condescending. 
Is he condescending ? Then bold, then just, then gene¬ 
rous, then merciful. Is he a child of God, a disciple 
of Jesus ? Then he is all that is amiable. Behold in 
Abram, a soul superiour to the love of riches, and con¬ 
sequently greater than a king ; “ And the king of So¬ 
dom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take 
the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of 
Sodom, I have lift up my hand unto the Lord, the 
Alost High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, 
that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latch¬ 
et, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest 
thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich.” Gen. 
xiv. 2 i—23. That integrity is incorruptible which 
considers life and happiness as consisting not in “ the 


LECT. XI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


127 


abundance of the things which a man possesseth 
which prize an honest, though humble independence, 
above the honours and treasures which princes have to 
bestow. 

Abram, on this occasion, is found in connection 
with a most extraordinary person, who bursts upon us 
like the sun from behind a thick clould, unveils his 
splendour for a moment, and then hides himself again 
in the shades of night: “ Melchizedec, king of Sa¬ 
lem, and priest of the most high Godwhose ap¬ 
pearance, history and character, we could have hardly 
comprehended, had not a brighter day since arisen, 
and an inspired apostle unfolded the meaning of what 
one inspired prophet acted, and another has recorded. 
The history of Melchizedec, short as it is, with the 
apostolic comment upon it, will easily furnish materials 
for a Lecture by itself, and shall not now therefore be 
anticipated. The story of Abram himself shall, for 
the present stand still, to be resumed and prosecuted 
in its order: it being now high time to look forward, 
and to bring that patriarch, with those who went be¬ 
fore him, to the feet of Jesus his “ offspringyet 
his “ rootlater than him by almost two thousand 
years ; yet before him “ of old, even from everlasting 
receiving existence from him in the order of nature, and 
by the tenour of the covenant; yet bestowing existence 
upon him, as the eternal Word, “ by whom all things 
were made, and without whom nothing was made that 
is made.” 

Abram may be first compared to Adam, being both 
the fathers of many nations, and especially constitu¬ 
ted of God for that end. With both, the covenant of 
God was established, which included and involved their 
posterity, though the children were not as yet born: 
for with God, that is effected, which is purposed to be 
done; and his promises are gifts already bestowed. 
Adam’s transgression transmitted evils innumerable to 
his offspring; Abram’s faith entailed blessings unspeak 


128 


HISTORY OF ABRAM* 


LEOT. XI. 


4 


able upon his family for many generations. Both of 
them typified Christ in their day; and both “ saw the 
day afar off.” Abram may be compared with his 
princes and great men of the age in which he lived. 
And in true dignity of mind, in elevation of spirit, in 
generosity of sentiment, in propriety of behaviour, he 
will be found superiour to most, and inferiour to none. 
We see kings receiving obligations from him ; while he 
nobly shews himself above receiving an obligation from 
any one. And Abram is a type "of every real Chris¬ 
tian giving up the world as a portion, at God’s com¬ 
mand, and sacrificing the dearest delights of nature to 
the demands of duty ; living as a stranger upon earth, 
and looking for “ a city which hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God.” 

But the great venerability of Abram’s character 
arises from his relation to Jesus Christ, whom he sha¬ 
dows forth in a great variety of respects. Abram was 
called and constituted of God, to be the natural head of 
a great and powerful nation : Jesus “ the first-born 
among many brethren,” to be the spiritual father of 
the whole vast family of believers. The covenant of 
God with Abram came in aid to the insufficiency of the 
first covenant; which had become weak, and ineffec¬ 
tual to salvation, through the corruption of human 
nature; and it prefigured a covenant still more sure 
and immovable than itself, “ established upon better 
promises,” even the sending of “ the Son of God, in 
the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin ; to condemn sin 
in the flesh.” The promt obedience of Abram to the 
call of Heaven, leads us directly to Him, who says of 
himself, “my meat is to do the will of him who sent 
me ;” and the language of whose whole life, spirit, suf¬ 
ferings, and death is, “ Father, not my will but thine 
be done.” Abram’s appearing on the stage, and enter¬ 
ing on the discharge of the duties of his public charac¬ 
ter, in the full maturity of his age, suggests to us, the 
Saviour of the world entering upon, and discharging his 


LECT. XI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


129 


public ministry, in the full vigor of life, and flower of his 
age. When I behold Abram sojourning in the land of 
promise as in a strange country, I think of him, who 
“came to his own, and his own received him not 
and meditate on “ the Son of man, who had not where 
to lay his head.” Abram, chased into Egypt by famine, 
reminds me of Jesus flying into Egypt from the wrath 
of a jealous and incensed king. Who can read of Abram 
discomfiting confederate princes, without bethinking 
himself straight of the triumphs of a Redeemer over 
“ principalities and powers, and the ruler of the dark¬ 
ness of this world:” Satan, sin, and death, “cast into 
the lake of fire ?” When we behold Lot brought back 
from captivity by the kindness and intrepidity of his 
affectionate kinsman, can we refrain from turning our 
eyes to our compassionate elder Brother, who “ through 
death has destroyed him that had the power of death, 
that is, the devil; and delivered them who through 
fear of death were subject to bondage;” and who has 
restored his younger brethren to “ the glorious liberty 
of the sons of God ?” Abram nobly refuses to be made 
rich by the bounty of the king of Sodom ; thus when 
the Jews would have taken Christ and made him a 
king, he withdrew himself * and when the prince of the 
power of the air presented him with the prospect of 
the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and 
proffered all to him on condition of his doing homage 
for them, he rejected the offer with disdain, “getthee 
behind me, Satan.” The amiable qualities of Abram’s 
mind bear a lively resemblance to the spirit that dwelt 
in our divine Master. But in Abram it was a spirit 
imparted, in Jesus a spirit inherent; it was bestowed 
on the former in measure, on the latter it was poured 
out without measure ; fn the patriarch it was mingled 
with dross, alloyed by a mixture of human imperfec¬ 
tion : in the Saviour it was unmixed, unalloyed, for “ he 
did no sin, neither was guile found in his lips,” 

Vox,. I. R 


130 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XI, 


But the time would fail to enumerate all the marks 
of resemblance. Many others will occur to the care¬ 
ful and attentive reader of Abram’s history ; these shall 
for the present suffice from this place. The farther 
continuation of it shall be suspended, and give way, 
according to the order of the narration, and to give 
these exercises ail the advantage of variety which their 
nature will admit, to the singular history of Melchize- 
dec ; which, God willing, shall be the subject of the 
ensuing Lecture, and to which permit me to implore 
your patient and candid attention. Earnestly pray¬ 
ing, that the blessing of the Most High may crown 
what has been spoken, we ascribe praise to his name, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 


HISTORY OF M ELCHIZE DEC. 


LECTURE XII. 

And Melchizedec king of Salem brought forth bread 
and wine: and he was the priest of the most high 
God — Gen. xiv. 18. 

The Lord hath sworn> and will not repent , Thou art 
a priest for ever , after the order of Melchizedec — 
Psalm cx. 4. 

. Jesus, made a high priest for ever , after 

the order of Melchizedec —Heb. vi. 20. 

The eagerness and avidity with which men pry into 
abstruse and difficult subjects, can be exceeded on¬ 
ly by their coldness and indifference to obvious and 
important truth. The religious controversies which 
have engaged so much attention, occupied so much 
time, and furnished employment for so many rare 
talents; which have whetted the tempers, and too 
often the swords of men against each other, are, in 
general, on points of doctrine too deep and mysteri¬ 
ous ever to be fathomed by human understanding, too 
lofty to be scanned without boldness and presumption, 
or too trifling to merit regard. Revealed religion, like 
every thing that is of God, must necessarily present 
many difficulties to a creature so limited as man. But 
instead of being rejected on that account, k is the more 
to be prized and reverenced ; as having this evidence, 
among many others, of coming from Him, whose na¬ 
ture, whose works, and whose ways, none “ can find 
out unto perfection.” Curiosity, guided by humility, 





132 


History of melchizedec. lect. xii* 


and aiming at useful discovery, is a laudable and useful 
principle. But curiosity impelled by self-conceit, and 
resting in mere speculation, is generally har^h and pre¬ 
sumptuous, often trifling, impertinent, and contempti¬ 
ble. In every branch of knowledge, those truths are 
the most valuable which are the plainest, and which 
present themselves in the greatest abundance : just as 
nature produces in the greatest profusion those com¬ 
modities which are most useful and necessary to man. 

The subject of this night’s Lecture, is one of those 
which have afforded ample employment to critics and 
commentators. Were our object amusement only', it 
were easy to entertain you for months to con e, with 
the ingenious, the fanciful, the absurd, and nonsensical 
expositions which have been given of the person and 
history of Melchizedec. But as we aim at usefulness, 
and acknowledge no guide in sacred things but the 
holy scripture. Moses shall be our only authority and 
guide in tracing this remarkable story ; David and 
Paul our only interpreters, in the application and use 
of it. 

Abram, with a little band of three hundred and 
eighteen persons of his own household, and a few 
friends, has pursued, overtaken, surprised, and discom¬ 
fited four confederated kings, with their victorious 
army ; and recovered Lot, his brother’s son, into liber¬ 
ty. Returning from this honourable, bold, and success¬ 
ful enterprise, he is met by a prince of a very different 
character from those whom he had conquered, and 
those whom he had delivered. They were sons of vio¬ 
lence, sons of blood ; his name was Melchizedec, and 
Melchisalem—king of righteousness, king of peace. It 
is extremely probable, that these epithets were titles 
conferred upon this great and good man, as being des¬ 
criptive of his person and character ; and might be de¬ 
signed of Providence as a memorial to all princes of 
what they ought to be; lovers, preservers, and pro¬ 
moters of justice, maintainers and conservators of peace. 


I* EC T. XII. HISTORY OT MELCHIZEDEC. 


133 


It is pleasing to find ourselves mistaken in our cal- 
culations of the numbers of good men, and in our esti¬ 
mates of the state of religion in the world. For these 
calculations and estimates through ignorance and con¬ 
tractedness of spirit, are generally, if not always er¬ 
roneous, by being short of the truth. Who did not 
conclude, when Abram was called to leave his idola¬ 
trous country, that the knowledge and the worship of 
the true God were entirely confined to his family ? 
When lo! a king and priest of the most high God, of 
whom we never heard, of whose existence we had for¬ 
med no conception before, breaks forth upon us all at 
once; and teaches us this most elevating, this most 
encouraging truth, that the number of the redeemed 
is much greater, and the state of religion much more 
prosperous, than the partial views, and the systema¬ 
tic spirit of even good men, will permit them to be¬ 
lieve. Thus, in latter times, a prophet of no less dig¬ 
nity than Elijah, from apparent circQmstances, made 
a most erroneous computation of the number of the 
faithful in his day. “ The children of Israel,” saith he, 
“have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy al¬ 
tars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, 
even I, only, am left, and they seek my life, to take 
it away,” 1 Kings xix. 14. But what saith the answer 
of God to him ? “ I have left me seven thousand in 
Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, 
and every mouth which hath not kissed him,” 1 Kings 
xix. 18. And when the ransomed of the Lord shall at 
length return together to Zion, they shall be “a great 
multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and 
kindreds and people, and tongues.” And what heart 
but must exult in the prospect of the grace of God 
being more widely diffused than we apprehended, and 
extended to regions unknown, and multitudes un¬ 
thought of by us ? 

Though but little be told us of this extraordinary 
person, that little is both pleasing and instructive. In 


134 


HISTORY 01' MELCIIIZEDEC. LECT. XII* 


him, we find united two offices of high dignity, and res¬ 
pectability—royalty and the priesthood ; the majesty of 
the one united to the sanctity of the other ; Melchi- 
zedec, “king of Salem,” was also “the priest of the 
most high God. How truly honourable is high station, 
when supported by the beauty and dignity of holiness, 
and adorned with unaffected goodness! Is the state of a 
king either dishonoured or diminished by attendance at 
the altar of God ? No ; it is religion that sweetens, and 
embellishes, and ennobles every condition: it is reli¬ 
gion, forming an intimate and a permanent relation 
between a man and his God, “ thatraiseth up the poor 
out of the dust; and lifteth the needy out of the dung¬ 
hill, and setteth him with princes; and which exalteth 
earthly princes to heavenly thrones. Examples are 
rare in history of these two characters being united. 
The kingdoms and the priesthood of this world fall to 
the lot of but a selected few ; they hardly blend in one 
and the same person, seldom meet to crown the same 
head. But in the new creation of God, in “ the king¬ 
dom prepared for the heirs of glory from the foundation 
of the world,” the high lot of Melchizcdec is the lot of 
every child of God. All are “ kings and priests unto God, 
even the Father.” And the Apostle Peter, addressing, 
not the princes and potentates of the earth, but 
“ strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Gallacia, 
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” thus writes, “Ye 
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood , a holy 
nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the 
praises of Him, who hath called you out of darkness 
into his marvellous light;” 1 Peter ii. 9. 

Is this king of righteousness and peace venerable in 
his priestly robes, attending, in the order of his course, 
upon the most high God ? Is he less amiable and res¬ 
pectable in administering to the necessities of his fellow 
men ? A prince is never more kingly, than when he is 
practising the virtues of humanity, hospitality, and 
compassion. And the praise of these too belongs to 


LECT. XII. HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC, 135 

Melchizedec, “ for he brought forth bread and wine” 
to refresh the patriarch and his little army, after the 
labour and fatigue of their rapid march and violent con¬ 
flict. The great God is infinitely above the need of 
our services. How then can we honour him most, and 
serve him best ? By copying his example ; by doing 
good ; by communicating to the comfort of others what 
he has kindly bestowed upon us. What object does 
this world present, once to be compared with a human 
being replete with benevolence, habitually studying to 
glorify his Creator, by alleviating the distresses, and 
promoting the happiness of his creatures ? This is the 
true lustre of riches, this is the glory of greatness, this 
the splendour of power, this the majesty of kings. 

Kindred spirits are easily and powerfully attracted to 
each other; and religion forms the strongest and ten- 
derest bond of union among men. Abram and Mel¬ 
chizedec meet like men long acquainted. The patri¬ 
arch nobly disdains to accept the spoils proffered to 
him by the king of Sodom ; but joyfully, and with gra¬ 
titude, embraces the friendship and kindness of the king 
of Salem. The gifts of a bad man yield a very mixed 
satisfaction to an honest mind, but it is pleasing to the 
soul to receive benefits from the wise and good. An 
interchange of kind offices is the life of friendship in 
worthy minds. In our commerce with Heaven, bene¬ 
fits flow continually from God to us ; continually receiv¬ 
ing, we have nothing to send back but the eff usions of 
a thankful heart, and the humble desires of needy de¬ 
pendants ; but friendship among men subsists only 
among equals, and depends on kindnesses mutually 
given and received. Melchizedec “ brings forth bread 
and wine” to Abram; Abram gives him “ tithes of 
all.” So early existed in the world that mode of sup¬ 
porting the ministers of religion. A great prince like 
Melchizedec needed not to minister in holy things for 
hire, but he would by his example teach mankind, 
what God by a special constitution established under 


136 


HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. LECT.XII. 


the law, and afterwards delivered to the world in a 
general proposition, that “ he who serves at the altar 
should live by the altar.” 

But how poor, in comparison, is the gift which the 
patriarch brings to the priest of God, to that which he 
receives from him. Abram’s is an offering of acknow¬ 
ledgment and respect merely, by which the receiver 
was neither benefited nor enriched, but Melchizedec’s 
return to him was a real benefit; he “blessed him, 
and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, 
possessor of heaven and earth,” Gen. xiv. 19. Abram 
was already blessed, in growing worldly prosper¬ 
ity, blessed in recent victory over his enemies, blessed 
in the deliverance he had wrought for his beloved 
nephew, blessed in possessing the respect and esteem of 
princes; out blessings like these have fallen to the lot 
of bad men, and are in themselves unsatisfactory : 
Melchizedec pronounces a blessing which crowns all 
the rest, and gives value to them all. “ The blessing 
of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow 
therewith Abram is “ blessed of the most high God,” 
with the prospect, though distant, of the Messiah’s 
day, who should spring from himself, according to the 
flesh, and in whom “ ail the families of the earth should 
be blessed.” Abram beheld in the very person who pro¬ 
nounced the benediction upon him, “ the figure of him 
who was to come,” that “ king who should reign in 
righteousness;” “he saw it, and was glad.” What 
selfish, solitary joy is once to be named with the pure, 
benevolent delight, which glowed in the patriarch s 
breast, every time the promise was brought to his ear, 
and the Saviour, his own Saviour, the Saviour of the 
world, was placed before his eye ? “ And blessed be the 
most high God,” continues he, u which hath delivered 
thine enemies into thine hand,” Gen. xiv. 20. The bless¬ 
ing which cometh down from heaven, ascends, together 
with its fru it, to heaven again; as the precious drops which 
fall down to water the earth, rise upward in gales of fra- 


LRCT. XII. HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. 


137 


grance, from the fruits and flowers which they produce, 
and perfume the air. “ Mercy is twice blessed, it 
blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.” But be¬ 
hold, while Melchizedec yet blessed Abram, he is out 
of our sight, and is no more to be found. He burst 
forth upon us like the sun from behind a thick cloud; 
disappeared again as quickly : and is to be discerned 
only in that track of glory which he has left behind him. 
Blessed type of him, who “ led out his disciples as far 
as to Bethany; and he lift up his hands and blessed them. 
And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he w T as 
parted from them, and carried up into heaven Luke 
xxiv. 50, 51. And who, “ while they beheld, was 
taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.” 
Acts i. 9. 

Thus all the men of ages past have made their es¬ 
cape from us, and we behold them no more : and thus 
we ourselves are one by one disappearing from among 
men. Adam, and the great majority, died. Enoch, 
and one more, w 7 ere translated without tasting death. 
The latter end of Melchizedec is concealed from us. 
But, from his extraordinary character, we are led to 
imagine, it could not be in the ordinary course of hu¬ 
manity. In so many various w 7 ays can God remove 
and dispose of his creatures; and thus, through various 
passages, w r e enter into the world of spirits: and 
“ mortality is swallowed up of life.” What other of 
the kings of the earth is to be compared with Melchi¬ 
zedec ? Is he not rather raised up of Providence, to 
reproach, and to condemn the potentates of this world; 
the rule of whose government, too often, is not righte¬ 
ousness and law 7 , but humour and caprice; and the end 
of it, not to bless mankind, but to gratify some passion 
of their own; who, instead of preserving the nations in 
peace, themselves the sons of peace, have incessantly, 
from the beginning to this unhappy day, involved the 
wretched human race in scenes of war, and violence, 
and blood ? To which of the earthly thrones shall we 
Vol. I. S 


138 HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. LECT. XII. 

look for the union of the sanctity of the priesthood 
with the majesty of the sovereign ? Alas ! kings are 
“ set in slippery places.” Their education, their sta¬ 
tion, their employments, their connections; all, all un¬ 
happily encroach upon the offices of religion ; tend to 
weaken its impressions, and to shut out its consola¬ 
tions.—But there is a Prince, betwixt whom and this 
king of Salem, the resemblance is so striking, that he 
who runs may trace it. 

Not a few have given in to the opinion, that the 
wonderful personage represented in this history, under 
the united character of priest and king, was none other 
than the Son of God himself, assuming a temporary 
human form, to exhibit in that dark age of the world, 
an anticipated view of the person, which he was, in the 
fulness of time, to assume, of the character which he was 
to sustain, and of the offices which he was to execute. 
The expressions which describe Melchizedec, it is al¬ 
leged, are not applicable to any creature: and as, from 
several other passages in the books of Moses, it is proba¬ 
ble, if not certain, that the Redeemer of the world mani¬ 
fested himself in the patriarchal ages, at sundry times, 
and on divers occasions, under the character of the 
angel of the Lord; it is apprehended, that this appear¬ 
ance to Abram might be of the same nature ; in order 
to furnish the father of believers with a clearer and 
more distinct idea of the person of the Redeemer, ac¬ 
cording to the words of Christ himself, “ your father 
Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and 
was glad,” John viii. 56. 

I see no danger that can result, either to faith or mo¬ 
rality, from admitting this supposition. And it must 
be admitted, that there are circumstances, both in the 
history and in the apostolical application of it, which 
sufficiently warrant such an interpretation. If there 
is not an actual identity of persons in Melchizedec and 
the Messiah, the analogy at least is so obvious, that 
we have but to bring Moses and Paul together, in or- 


LECT. XII. HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. 


139 


der to discover its exactness, and to feel its force. The 
likeness is presented to us in scripture, not as some 
others, in scanty and obscure hints, or in some leading 
features and lineaments only ; but the portraits are 
drawn, as it were, at full length, by the masterly 
hands of a prophet and an apostle, and placed side by 
side for our inspection. In this part of our undertaking, 
therefore, nothing more is necessary than to transcribe 
from the page of inspiration. 

Scripture is singularly expressive, both in what it 
speaks of Melchizedec, and in what it conceals : and 
in both these respects we may in some measure under¬ 
stand the meaning of what David in spirit says of the 
Messiah, “ thou art a priest for ever, after the order of 
Melchizedec.” And first, 

To whom can the names of the king of righteousness, 
king of peace, be applied with such strict propriety, as 
to him whom God hath “ anointed over his holy hill of 
Sion,” who reigns in justice and in love : who, righ¬ 
teous himself, has wrought out for all his happy subjects, 
a justifying righteousness by the merit of his blood, and 
continues to work out in all, a sanctifying righteousness 
by the grace and power of his Spirit ? 

* But peace and righteousness are not mere external 
designations of Messiah, our Prince ; names without a. 
meaning, titles without merit, like many of those which 
are worn by the potentates of this world, Catholic , 
Most Christian , Faithful , Imperial, Defender of the 
Faith ! Appellations calculated to excite pity or deri¬ 
sion. No ; his titles are of the essence of his nature; 
the display of them, is the object of his mission, and 
the consummation of his plan. “ His name shall be 
called the Prince of peace.” “ Of the increase of his 
government, and peace , there shall be no end,” Isai. 
ix. 6, 7. “ In Christ Jesus, we, who sometimes were 

far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For 
he is our peace , who hath made both one, and 
hath broken down the middle wall of partition be- 


14G HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. LECT. Xlt. 

tween us:” “ He came and preached peace to you 
who were afar off, and to them that were nigh,” Eph. 
ii. 13, 14, 17. “ The chastisement of our peace was 

upon him, and with his stripes we are healed,” Isai. 
liii. 5. His gospel is prophesied of, as God’s “ cove- 
nant of peace f and “ the counsel of peace” At his 
birth the melodious anthem of “ peace on earth, and 
goodwill toward men,” Luke ii. 14, ascended from the 
tongues of ten thousand angels, up to the eternal 
throne: and when he left the world, this bequest, more 
precious than the mantle of Elijah, fell from him, and 
remained behind him to bless mankind, “ peace I leave 
with you, my peace I give unto you,” John xiv. 27— 
peace with God, peace of conscience, peace with all 
men; for, “ being justified by faith, we have peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Rom. v. 1. 
And “ the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but 
righteousness and peace , and joy in the Holy Ghost,” 
Rom. xiv. 17. Acquaintance with God through him, 
produces inward tranquillity. “ Acquaint now thy¬ 
self with him, and be at peace; thereby good shall 
come unto thee,” Job xxii. 21. And “ if God be for 
us, who can be against us ?” “ The peace of God pass- 
eth all understanding.” The world can neither give it 
nor take it away. And when his gospel shall have pro¬ 
duced its full effect, and his kingdom is finally establish¬ 
ed; “ the work of righteousness shall be peace;” “ and 
the effect of righteousness , quietness , and assurance for 
ever,” Isai. xxxii. 17. 

But it were endless to enumerate the passages of 
scripture, which represent Jesus Christ the Saviour as 
the author, the purchaser, the giver, the operator of 
peace , and “ the Lord our righteousness .” They are 
his nature, his name; the burthen of his preaching, of 
his prayers; they are the fruit of his sufferings and 
death, the object of his intercession, the operation of 
his Spirit: they are the seeds of glory in his redeemed 
upon earth; and the perfection of glory in him and in 


LECT. XII. HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. 


141 


them, when the triumph of his grace shall be com¬ 
pleted in heaven. 

As the names and titles ascribed to Melchizedec, 
apply in full force, and in their utmost extent to our 
blessed Saviour, so the several actions in which we find 
him engaged, have their exact counterpart in what Je¬ 
sus did , in the exercises of his public ministry. They 
are these three—“ he brought forth bread and wine” 
to refresh Abram and his weary host; he “ blessed 
Abramand he received of him “ tithes of all” the 
spoils. 

In the first of these we are led to contemplate the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he exerted, 
more than once, his almighty power, in miraculously 
multiplying bread to refresh and sustain the fainting 
multitudes, who resorted to hear him: and when he 
instituted, by taking, blessing, and distributing bread 
and wine, that memorial of his death, which has been 
in every age, and shall continue to the end of the 
world, the food of the hungry soul, and a cordial to 
the faint; the token of a salvation already wrought 
out and purchased; and the foretaste of a salvation 
“ ready to be revealed ;” the communion of imperfect 
saints, in the church militant, and the eternal bond of 
union among the spirits of just men made perfect, in 
the church triumphant. 

Again, Melchizedec blessed Abram. In this action 
of the king of Salem, w r e behold Jesus, “ who went 
about doing good,” and scattered blessings whereso¬ 
ever he went. “ He took little children into his arms 
and blessed them.” He pronounced a blessing , which 
still rests on “ the poor in spirit,” “ the meek,” “ the 
merciful,” “ the pure in heart,” “ the peace makers,” 
and those “ who hunger and thirst after righteousness,” 
Matt. v. 3, 10. He blessed the bread before he brake 
it, and gave it to his disciples : when he ascended up 
on high, blessings upon blessings flowed from his lips; 
and in virtue of his intercession at the right hand of 


142 


HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. LECT. XII. 


the Father, “every good gift, and every perfect gift 
cometh down from the Father of lights,” James 1. 17. 
If the world has any comfort; if the soul has any hope; 
if there be any communication between* heaven and 
earth; if there be “ good will towards men;” “ if there 
be any consolation in Christ; if any comfort of love ; 
if any fellowship of spirit; if any bowels and mercies,” 
Phil. ii. 1—if there be any joy purer, and more perfect 
than another, “ the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, 
and he addeth no sorrow therewith;” it is of him, whom 
“ God having raised up” even “ his Son Jesus, sent him 
to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his 
iniquities,” Acts iii. 26. But the grand accomplish¬ 
ment of the type is reserved for that day, when, toge¬ 
ther with faithful Abraham, all “ the ransomed of the 
Lord shall return, and come to Zion, with songs and 
everlasting joy upon their heads,” Isai. xxxv. 10— 
when “ the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven 
with power and great glory,” shall thus welcome his 
redeemed to the regions of eternal day, “ Come ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world,” Matt, 
xxv. 34. 

The last of Melchizedec’s actions that stands upon 
record is his receiving the tithe of the spoils from 
Abram. On which subject I think it best to give you 
the apostle’s commentary in his own words. “ Now 
consider how great this man was, unto whom even the 
patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of his spoils. And 
verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the 
office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take 
tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of 
their brethren, though they come out of the loins of 
Abraham: but he whose descent is not counted from 
them, received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that 
had the promises. And without all contradiction, the 
less is blessed of the better. And here men that die 
receive tithes: but there he receiveth them, of whom 



LECT. XII. HISTORY OF MEICHIZEDEC. 


143 


it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, 
Levi also who received tithes, payed tithes in Abra¬ 
ham ; for he was yet in the loins of his father, when 
Melchizedec met him,” Heb. vii. 4—10. From which 
he justly infers, that “ perfection” could not be “ by 
the Levitical priesthood,” that “ there was need” of 
“ another priest, after the order of Melchizedec, and 
not after the order of Aaron;” who should be “ made, 
not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after 
the power of an endless life;” “and that seeing the 
law made nothing perfect,” but “ the bringing in of a 
better hope did,” “ by so much was Jesus made a sure¬ 
ty of a better testament:” and “ this man because he 
continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood.” 
Through him, therefore, let us offer, “ the calves of our 
lips,” and “ present” our “ bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable ser¬ 
vice:” for u we are not our own, we are bought with a 
price;” therefore, “let us glorify God in our body, and 
in our spirit, which are God’s.” 

As the names and employments , so the united offices 
and dignity of Melchizedec, met in all their lustre in 
the person of the Son of God: “ King of Salem,” and 
“ Priest of the most high God.” In “ derision” of the 
vain attempts of the heathen, and of the impious con¬ 
federacy of the kings and rulers of the earth, “ against 
the LORD, and against his Anointed,” God declares, 
“ I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion,” 
Psalm ii. 6. He came not indeed in worldly pomp, 
but in lowliness and meekness, yet the powers and po¬ 
tentates of the earth were made subject and subservient 
to him. “ Wise men from the east” were conducted 
by a star to Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem of 
Judah, to do homage to him at his birth ; and poured 
“ their treasures, gold, frankincense, and myrrh,” at 
his feet. Augustus issued “ a decree that all the world 
should be taxed.” What was his motive, what his 
end ? We cannot tell; but we know the end which 


144 HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. LECt. XII. 

God had in view by it: namely, to bring into more 
public notoriety, the several circumstances of Christ’s 
nativity, and to transmit them to the latest posterity, 
in all their splendor and importance. Thus the haugh¬ 
ty master of imperial Rome was constrained of Provi¬ 
dence, to render unknown, unintended, involuntary 
homage to yonder babe in the stable at Bethlehem. 
“For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom 
thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, 
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gather¬ 
ed together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy 
counsel determined before to be done,” Acts iv. 27, 28. 
Is he not then “ the blessed and only Potentate ; the 
King of kings, and Lord of lords ?” Now especially, 
exalted as he is, to the “ right hand of the Majesty on 
high. For by him were all things created that are in 
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, 
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principali¬ 
ties, or powers: all things were created by him, and 
for him.” “ And he is before all things, and by 
him all things consist,” Col. i. 16, 17. And, into the 
kingdom of his glory, when finished, “ the kings of the 
earth do bring their glory and honor.” Then shall 
angels and men join in this grand celestial chorus, 
“ The kingdoms of this world are become the king¬ 
doms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign 
forever and ever,” Rev. xi. 15. 

But while his exalted rank as a sovereign removes us 
to an awful distance, his milder character, as “ the 
Apostle and High Priest of our profession,” allures us 
back to his presence, and dissipates our terrors. He is 
“ a merciful and a faithful High Priest ,” a “ High 
Priest , touched with the feeling of our infirmities:” 
“ a great High Priest , that is passed into the heavens,” 
through whom we have encouragement to “ come 
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain 
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” Heb. 
iv. 16. He has by “ one offering perfected for ever 


1.ECT. XII. 


HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. 


145 


them that are sanctified” and who having “washed us 
from our sins in his own blood,” shall at length make 
txs “ kings and priests unto God and his Father. To 
him be glory and dominion for ever and ever,” Rev. i. 6. 

The circumstances relating to Melchizedec, which 
are concealed, no less than those which are revealed to 
us, lead directly to similar circumstances in the person 
and character of our Lord, “ Without father, without 
mother, without descent; having neither beginning of 
days, nor end of life :” no predecessor; no successor; 
no limited time of service; no derived title; a dignity 
not passing from hand to hand, but permcnant, inhe¬ 
rent, immutable. Such was the type. What is its 
antitype? “Who shall declare his generation?” “In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God,” John i. 1. “Verily, 
verily I say unto you, before Abram was, I am,” 
John viii. 58. “ And the Word was made flesh, and 

dwelt among us, [and we beheld his glory, the glory as 
of the only begotten of the Father] full of grace and 
truth,” John i, 14. “ Without controversy great is 

the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the 
flesh,” 1 Tim. iii. 16. “ I am Alpha and Omega, the 

first and the last; I am he that liveth and was dead : 
and behold, I am alive for evermore, amen,” Rev. 1. 
11, 18. “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world! ’ “ Slain from the founda¬ 

tion of the world!” The altar which consecrateth 
“ the gift,” the priest that presents the sacrifice; the 
“ second temple” which eclipses the glory of the 
“ first. ” All, and in all. Every thing pointed to him, 
all endeth in him, and all are infinitely exceeded by 
him. 

Rejoice, Christians, in this “ more sure word of pro¬ 
phecy ;” and “ take heed unto it, as unto a light that 
shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the 
day star arise in your hearts,” 2 Peter i. 19. Revere 
the unfathomable depths of the eternal mind. “ Secret 
Vol. i. T 


146 


HISTORY OF MELCHIZEDEC. LECT. XII. 


things belong to God; but things which are revealed, 
belong to us, and to our children.” Turn all your 
inquiries to some good account; remembering that 
“ the end of the commandment is charity,” is to inspire 
veneration and love to God, and good will to men. 
Seek not to be “ wise above what is written:” and 
“ be not wise in your own conceit.” In reverence 
fidore an incomprehensible Jehovah, who. by no search 
is to be “ found out unto perfection.” Rejoice in hope 
of that day, when all mysteries shall be unveiled, and 
the wisdom, the love, and the goodness of God, shall 
shine conspicuously in every creature and every event; 
when the honours of a Mechelzedec shall be communi¬ 
cated to all and to every one of the myriads of Christ’s 
redeemed. When, such as is the head, shall all the 
members be, “ kings and priests unto God.” And let 
us, “ by patient continuance in well doing, seek for 
glory, and honour, and immortality.” Amen. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECTURE XIII. 


And it came to pass , that when the sun went down , and 
it was dark behold a smoaking furnace, and a burn¬ 
ing lamp that passed between those pieces. In the 
same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram . 

Gen. xv. 17. 18. 


There is something awfully pleasant, in tracing 
the manners and customs of ancient times, and of 
distant nations; particularly in the celebration of 
their religious ceremonies. Religion, in every age and 
nation, has been the foundation of good faith, and of 
mutual confidence among men. The most solemn con¬ 
ventions, and the most explicit declarations have been 
considered as imperfect, till the oath of God was in¬ 
terposed, and until the other august sanctions of divine 
worship ratified and confirmed the transaction. It 
cannot but be a high gratification to every lover of the 
holy scriptures, to find in the bible the origin and the 
model of all the significant religious rites of latter ages 
and of remoter nations; to find in Moses, the pattern 
of usages described by a Homer and a Titus Livius, 
as in general practice among the two most respectable 
and enlightened nations of antiquity, the Greeks and 
Romans. 

Making of covenants is one of the most frequent 
and customary transactions in the history of mankind. 
Controversies and quarrels of every sort issued at 
length in a covenant between the contending parties. 
The solemn compacts which have taken place between 
God and man, are known by the same name; and 



148 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XIII. 


have been confirmed by similar forms and ceremo¬ 
nies. The word translated to make a covenant, in all 
the three learned languages, Hebrew, Greek, and 
Latin; that is, according to the uniform application 
of it in the Old Testament, and the constant phraseo¬ 
logy of the most approved Greek and Roman authors, 
signifies to cut , to separate by cutting asunder, to 
strike down. The word translated covenant, in the 
original Hebrew according as we derive it from one or 
two words of similar form and sound, signifies either a 
purifier , that is, a purifying victim ; and the phrase, 
to make a covenant will import, to kill, strike, cut off, 
a purifying victim ; or it may signify a grant of favour, 
a deed of gift freely bestowed and solemnly ratified by 
the most high God. And according to this derivation 
it imports, that the party with whom it is made, is put 
into a new and happkr state.* Between man and 
man, it denotes a new arrangement of certain con¬ 
cerns common to both, whereby they are put upon a 
clearer foundation than they were before. ow the 
order and form of Abram’s sacrifice described in the 
ninth and tenth verses of this chapter, is a full illus¬ 
tration of the meaning of the words. “ And he said 
unto him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and 
a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years 
old, and a turtle dove, and a y oung pigeon. And he took 
unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and 
laid each piece one against another: but the birds divid¬ 
ed he not.” And in the text, “ the Lord made a cove¬ 
nant,” i. e. he cut asunder or divided a purifying vic¬ 
tim Abram, according to Gcd’s command, took a 
heifer, a she goat, and a ram, each of three years old, 
slew them ; divided each into equal parts; placed the 
separated limbs opposite to each other, leaving a pas-, 
sage between; passed between the parts himself, ac¬ 
cording to the custom of the sacrifice ; and when the 
sun was down, that the appearance might be more vi- 
*Taylor’s Hebrew Concordance, under the word jna 232. 


LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


149 


sible and striking, the Shechinah , or visible token of 
God’s presence, passed also between the divided limbs 
of the victims, as “a smoaking furnace, and a burn¬ 
ing lampthe final ratification of this new treaty 
between God and Abram By this covenant God gra¬ 
ciously became bound to give Abram a son of his own 
loins, who should become the father of a great nation, 
and the progenitor, after the flesh, of the great Savi¬ 
our and deliverer of the human race; and Abram on 
his part, bound himself to a firm reliance upon all 
God’s promises, and a cheerful obedience to all his 
commands. Such were the awful solemnities of this 
important transaction. What mysteries were contain¬ 
ed in these sacred rites, we pretend not to unfold. 
They were evidently of divine institution, for God ho¬ 
noured them with his presence, approbation and accep¬ 
tance. They apparantly had been long in use before 
this period; for Abram, wdthout any particular instruc¬ 
tion, prepares and performs the sacrifice; and they 
certainly continued long in the church of God after 
this; for we find the practice as far down as the times 
of Jeremiah, that is about the period of the dissolution 
of the Jewish monarchy. The passage in this prophet 
to which we refer, describes so minutely these ancient 
religious customs, and so strikingly illustrates and sup¬ 
ports the history of Abram’s covenant and sacrifice, 
that I trust you will forgive my quoting it at full length. 
44 This is the w’ord that came unto Jeremiah from the 
Lord, after that the king Zedekiah had made a cove¬ 
nant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to 
proclaim liberty unto them. That every man should 
let his man servant, and every man his maid servant, 
being a Hebrew, or a Hebrewess, go free, that none 
should serve himself of them, to w it, of a Jew his bro¬ 
ther. Now when all the princes, and all the people 
wdiich had entered into the cove ant , heard that every 
one should let his man servant, and every one his maid 
servant go free, that none should serve themselves of 


150 


HISTORY OF ABRAM* 


LECT. XIII, 


them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.' 
But afterwards, they turned, and caused the servants 
and the hand-maids, whom they had let go free, to 
return, and brought them into subjection for servants 
and for hand-maids. Therefore the w T ord of the Lord 
came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus saith 
the Lord the God of Israel, I made a covenant with 
your fathers, in the day that I brought them forth out 
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, 
saying, At the end of seven years, let ye go every man 
his brother, a Hebrew which had been sold unto 
thee ; and when he hath served thee six years, thou 
shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers 
hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 
And ye were now turned, and had done right in my 
sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour, 
and ye had made a covenant before me in the house 
which is called by my name. But ye turned, and pol¬ 
luted my name, and caused every man his servant, and 
every man his hand-maid, whom he had set at liberty 
at their pleasure, to return and brought them into sub¬ 
jection, to be unto you for servants and for hand-maids. 
Therefore, thus said the Lord, Ye have not hearkened 
unto me, in proclaiming liberty every one to his bro¬ 
ther, and every man to his neighbour : behold, I pro¬ 
claim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, 
to the pestilence, and to the famine, and I will make 
you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 
And I will give the men that have transgressed my 
covenant , which have not performed the words of the 
covenant which they had made before me, when they 
cut the calfiv twain , andpa - sed between the parts thereof \ 
the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the 
eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, 
which passed between the ports of the calf\ I will even 
give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the 
hand of them that seek their life ; and their dead bodies 
shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to 


L ECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


151 


the beasts of the earth,” Jer. xxxiv. 8, 20. Now the 
expressions here employed, of “ polluting God’s name, 
transgressing his covenant, and not performing it,” 
and the threatened punishment of this violation, “ their 
dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the hea¬ 
ven, and to the beasts of the earth, explain to us in 
some measure the meaning of those solemn ceremonies 
with which covenants were executed. And here 
surely it is not unlawful to employ the lights which 
are thrown upon this subject, by the practice of the 
Gentile nations, and the writings of those who are styl¬ 
ed profane authors. From them we learn, that on 
such occasions the custom was, that the contracting 
party or parties, having passed between the divided 
limbs of the sacrifice, and expressed their full assent to 
the stipulated terms of the agreement or covenant, in 
solemn words, which were pronounced with an audible 
voice, imprecated upon themselves a bitter curse, if 
they ever should violate it. “ As I strike down this 
heifer, or ram, so may God strike me with death, if I 
transgress my word and oath.” “ As the limbs of 
this animal are divided asunder, so may my body be 
torn in pieces, if I prove perfidious.” Permit me to 
present one instance of many, from the two illustrious 
nations alluded to. The Greeks and the Trojans, ac¬ 
cording to Homer, having agreed to determine the 
great quarrel between them, by the issue of a single 
combat between the two rivals Menelaus and Paris, 
the terms being solemnly adjusted and consented to 
on both sides, the ratification of the covenant is thus 
described, Iliad, lib. III. 338.* “ The Grecian prince 

* It may perhaps be amusing to the reader, to compare the 
simplicicity of a literal prose translation, with the poetical ele¬ 
gance and spirit of the English Homer. The passage follows; 

K On either side a sacred herald stands, 

The wine they mix, and on each monarch’s hands 
Pour the full urn ; then draws the Grecian lord 
His cutlass sheath’d beside his pond’rous sword ; 


152 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XIIIo 


drew the sacred knife, cut off a lock of wool from each 
of the heads of the devoted lambs, which being distri¬ 
buted among the princes of the contending parties, he 
thus, with hands lifted up, and in a loud voice prayed: 
“ O Father Jove, most glorious, most mighty : O sun, 
who seest and hearest every thing: ye rivers, thou 
earth, and ye powers who in the regions below punish 
the false and prejured, be ye witnesses, and preserve 
this covenant unviolated.” Then, having repeated the 
words of the covenant in the audience of all, he cleft 
asunder the heads of the consecrated lambs, placed 
their palpitating limbs opposite to each other on the 
ground, poured sacred wine upon them, and again 
prayed, or rather imprecrated; O Jupiter Almighty, 
most glorious, and ye other immortals ! Whoever shall 
first transgress his solemn oath, may his brains and those 
of his children, flow upon the ground like this wine, and 

From the sin’d victims crops the curling hair, 

The heralds part it, and the princes share ; 

Then loudly thus before the attentive bands, 

He calls the gods, and spreads his lifted hands: 

“ O first and greatest Pow’r! whom all obey, 

Who high on Ida's holy mountain sway, 

Eternal Jove ! and you bright orb that roll 
From east to west, and view from pole to pole, 

Thou mother earth ! and all ye living floods ! 

Infernal furies, and Tartarean gods 

Who rule the dead, and horrid woes prepare 

For perjur’d kings, and all who falsely swear 1 

Hear and be witness If.” 

“ With that the chief the tender victims slew, 

And in the dust their bleeding bodies threw; 

The vital spirit issued at the wound, 

And left the members quiv’ring on the ground. 

From the same urn they drink the mingled wine, 

And add libations to the pow’rs divine ; 

While thus their pray’rs united mount the sky ; 

“ Hear, mighty Jove ! and hear, ye gods on high! 

And may their blood, who first the league confound, 

Shed like this wine, distain the thirsty ground ; 

May all their comforts serve promiscuous lust, 

And all their race be scattered as the dust!” 

Pope’s Iliad, in. 376. 



LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


153 


let his wife be divided from him and given to another.” 
Thus when it was agreed to settle the contest for em¬ 
pire between Rome and Alba by the combat of three 
youths, brothers, on either side ; after the interposition 
of ceremonies similar to those which have been describ¬ 
ed, the Roman priest who presided, addressed a prayer 
to Heaven to this effect: u Hear., Father Jupiter, hear, 
prince of Alba, and ye whole Alban nation. What¬ 
ever has been read from that waxen tablet, from first 
to last, according to the plain meaning of the words, 
without any reservation whatever, the Roman people 
engages to stand to, and will not be the first to violate. 
If with a fraudulent intention, and by an act of the 
state, they shall first transgress, that very day, O Ju¬ 
piter, strike the Roman people as 1 to-day shall strike 
this hog, and so much the more heavily, as you are 
more mighty and more powerful than me.” And 
having thus spoken, with a sharp flint, he dashed out 
the brains of the animal. 

Thus in the three most distinguished nations that 
ever existed, we find the origin of their greatness in 
similar ceremonies ; empire founded in religion, and 
good faith secured by the sanction of solemn sacred 
rites. And is it not pleasing to find the living and true 
God, as in respect of majesty and dignity, so in priority 
of time, taking the lead in all that is great and venera¬ 
ble among men ? We find Moses, the prince of sacred 
writers, describing a religious sacrifice performed by 
Abram one thousand nine hundred and thirteen years 
before Christ, which the prince of heathen poets so ex¬ 
actly describes as the practice of his own country up¬ 
wards of one thousand years later; and which the 
great Roman historian relates as in use among his 
countrymen, in the time of Tullus Hostiiius, the third 
king of Rome, before Christ about six hundred and 
sixty-eight years. 

The circumstances of this interesting transaction 
have led me much farther than I intended; I now 
Vol. I. U 


154 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XIII. 


return to take up the thread of the narration. Abram 
having returned from the slaughter of the kings; hav¬ 
ing achieved the deliverance of Lot his brother’s son 
from captivity ; having paid tithes to Melchizedec, the 
- type and representative of the great High Priest over 
the household of God perhaps the Son of God himself, 
thus early exhibited in human nature to the world ; 
having received the blessing from him, and bidden him 
farewell, retires again to the quietness and privacy of 
domestic life, humbly confiding in the divine protec¬ 
tion, and patiently waiting the accomplishment of the 
promises. The man who habitually seeks Gcd, is rea¬ 
dily and happily found of him. “ After these things 
the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, 
saying, Fear not, Abram: 1 am thy shield, and thy 
exceeding great reward,” Gen. xv. 1. The din of war, 
and the gratulations of victory, these transitory and 
perturbed occupations and comforts being over, inter¬ 
course with Heaven recommences and improves : the 
still small voice of divine favour is again heard. “ Fear 
not, 1 am thy shield.” Abram was become the dread 
of one confederacy of princes, and the envy of another; 
both of them situations full of danger; but his security 
is the protection of the Almighty. He scorned to be 
made rich by the generosity of the king of Sodom ; and 
his magnanimity and disinterestedness are recompens¬ 
ed by the bounty of the great Lord of all; “ I am thy 
exceeding great reward.” Why should we curiously 
inquire after the nature of the heavenly vision, and ask 
in what manner the word of the Lord came unto him ? 
Know we not the secret, the inexplicable, the irresisti¬ 
ble power which God possesses, and exercises over the 
bodies and over the minds of men? Know we not 
what it is to blush for our follies, though no eye beholds 
us: to tremble under the threatenings of a guilty con¬ 
science, though no avenger be pursuing ; and to enjoy 
serenity and peace, in the midst of confusion and tem¬ 
pest ? Whence is this but from the word of the Lord 
within us, constraining or encouraging us to hear ? 


XECT. XIII. 


HISTORY Or ABRAM. 


155 


This renewed declaration of the divine favour, draws 
from Abram a dutiful yet pathetic expostulation, on 
the condition of his family and affairs ; in which the 
impatience and fretfulness of the man, mingle with the 
submission and resignation of the believer. He was 
grown rich and respected ; he had been victorious over 
his enemies, and become a blessing to his friends ; but 
he is sinking into the vale of years, and his great pos¬ 
sessions are ready to descend to a stranger, Kliezer of 
Damascus, the steward of his household. Is it any 
w onder to see a proud, unmortified Haman dissatisfied, 
though basking in the sunshine of royal favour, because 
one Mordecai sits in the king’s gate, when a pious 
Abram feels uneasy in the enjoyment of all this world 
could bestow, because one thing was withheld ? Alas, 
what condition of humanity is exempted, for any length 
of time together, from sorrow and vexation of spirit ? 
How much of the affliction of the remainder of Abram’s 
life, arose from the possession of that blessing, which he 
now coveted so earnestly ! But surely we should do but 
slender justice to the holy man, in supposing that the 
sentiments which he expressed upon this occasion were 
merely the effect of a natural desire of having children 
of his own body, to whom his large possessions might 
descend. The man who rejoiced in the prospect of 
the Saviour’s day; the man who was ready, at God’s 
command, to oiler up Isaac in sacrifice; the man who 
had given up every thing nature holds dear, when duty 
called him to it; and who took the simple promise of 
God as a full indemnification ; such a man must, in 
charily, be presumed to entertain the most liberal and 
disinterested views, in thus ardently desiring a son. 
We hear of no disapprobation expressed against his 
ardour and impatience; on the contrary, it procures 
from God a more distinct and decisive promise of the 
speedy accomplishment of his wishes—“ And behold, 
the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This 
shall not be thine heir; but he that shall conic forth 


156 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XIII. 


out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir,” Gen. 
xv. 4. The time, though not the manner of the vision 
is fully conveyed to us: it was early in the morning, 
while it was yet dark, for <c he brought him forth abroad 
and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, 
if thou be able to number them. And he said unto 
him, So shall thy seed be,” Gen xv. 5. Scripture allu¬ 
sions to natural objects, are adapted to the ordinary 
conceptions of mankind. The sun is represented as 
rising, and setting, and moving round the earth ; and 
the stars are represented as innumerable, because this 
is apparently the case, and justified by the ideas and 
language of all nations, though the fact be philosophi¬ 
cally otherwise. Surely the truth of God, in his pro¬ 
mise to Abram, is little affected by the astronomical 
arrangement of the heavenly bodie s, which latter ages 
have devised, and whereby the number of those glorious 
luminaries is determined to a greater degree of accu¬ 
racy. What the promise means to give the good man 
full assurance of, is, that his posterity should be both 
numerous and illustrious beyond all conception. And, 
if I may be permitted to hazard a conjecture, and to 
anticipate an observation on this subject, the error of 
David, many ages afterwards, in insisting on having 
the people numbered in his reign, which was one of the 
most prosperous periods of the Israelitish history, con¬ 
sisted in his attempting to determine what God would 
have left undetermined. It being an object of much 
greater importance to a wise and good prince, to see 
his subjects thriving, numerous, and happy, than to 
know the exact number over which he reigns ; just as 
it is much more delightful and beneficial to a man, to 
contemplate the beautiful seeming irregularity of the 
starry heavens, to lose ourselves, as it were, in their 
glory and immensity, and to enjoy their benign influ¬ 
ences, than to fix with the utmost exactness and preci¬ 
sion, their number, motions, and distances. Accord¬ 
ingly, we find, that in the days of Solomon, the son of 


LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


157 


David, when Jewish splendour and populousness were at 
their zenith, no attempt was made to discover the num¬ 
ber of the people; but in conformity to the 'obvious 
intention of God, in the passage now under review, 
that matter was for ever left in a state of glorious un¬ 
certainty. 

Abram’s doubts are now entirely removed; “ he 
believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for 
righteousness,” Gen. xv. 6. As God rewards the 
faithful, not by halves, not sparingly, nor grudgingly; 
so all true believers, like faithful Abram, honour God 
by an entire and unlimited confidence ; and believe not 
only in hope but against hope. The patriarch thus 
indulged and encouraged, presumes still farther on the 
divine goodness, to entreat some present token of the 
truth and certainty of the promises made to him. 
“ And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that 
I shall inherit it,” Gen. xv. 8. Both from what goes 
before and follows, we must conclude, that this was 
not a request of diffidence, but of desire and love. We 
neither desire nor exact from our friends formal obliga¬ 
tions to shew us kindness ; this would imply a doubt of 
their attachment; but we dearly love to bear about us 
the tokens of their affection. In like manner Abram 
asked for a sign, not that he suspected any thing, but 
because he loved much. It was taken as it was meant; 
and friendship was strengthened by the request and 
the grant of it. The covenant which ensued, and the 
ceremonies by which it was ratified, have already been 
considered. But some farther circumstances here re¬ 
corded well deserve our notice. The order for the 
sacrifice was given early in the morning, The former 
part of the day was employed in preparing it; and we 
may suppose all things ready at noon. Abram has 
done what was incumbent upon him; but the great 
God is not limited to seasons or forms; Abram must 
therefore wait and watch—wait till God condescends to 
appear—watch, that his sacrifice be not plundered or 


158 


HISTORY OF AERAJVI. 


LKCT. XIII. 


polluted. At length, about the going down of the sun, 
the approach of Deity is felt. “ And when the sun 
was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram : and 
lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him,” Gen. 
xv. 12. How insupportable must be the visitations of 
God’s anger ! (I tremble while I speak) if the visions of 
his mercy and love are so awful and tremendous! 
While he was in this extacy, the principal events that 
should affect his family for the space of four hundred 
years, are revealed to him ; and the issue is to be, at 
the end of that period, the quiet and certain possession 
of the very land which he then inhabited ; even from 
the Nile to the Euphrates. But we trespass on your 
patience too long. 

—Let us, in conclusion, raise our thoughts to a new 
covenant, established on better promises; to a sacri¬ 
fice whose “ blood cleanseth from all sin “ to a new 
and living way consecrated into the holiest of all, through 
the vale, the Redeemer’s flesh.” Let us look to that 
body which was broken upon the cross, the atonement 
for transgression ; to that inheritance which is incor¬ 
ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away to that 
“ kingdom which cannot be moved,” that government 
and peace, of “ which there shall be no endto that 
“ great multitude which no man can number, of all 
nations and kindreds and people and tongues, which 
stand before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed 
in white robes, and palms in their hands to that day, 
when t€ they that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
of the firmament, and they that turn many to righte¬ 
ousness, as the stars for ever and ever.” 

—Is every discovery of God a mixture of light and 
darkness, “ a furnace that smoaketh, a lamp that burn- 
eth,” “ a pillar of cloud, a pillar of fire ?” Let us rejoice 
and walk, and live in that light; let us revere, adore, 
and preserve an humble distance from that darkness. 
Are the visits of God’s wrath intolerable to the wick¬ 
ed ; and the approaches of his gracious presence awful 


LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


159 


even to the good? Let us, then, think of drawing nigh 
to him, only through the Son of his love, in whom he 
is ever well pleased. 

Is the covenant on God’s part “ ordered in all things 
and sure ?” Are all “ the promises” in Christ yea 
and amen ?” Is the “ glory” they propose and ensure, 
u yet to be revealed ?” “ Be not faithless, but believ¬ 
ing “ cast ail your care upon him, for he careth for 
you.” “ Now we see through a glass darkly; but then 
face to face : now I know in part; but then I shall 
know even as also I am known.” “ He who cometh 
will come and will not tarry.” “ The grace of our 
Lord Jesus be with your spirits.” Amen. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECTURE XIV. 

He thatbelieveth shall not make haste —Is. xxviii. 16. 

The ways of Providence and the workings of the 
human mind do not always keep pace one with 
another. In the pursuit of their ends, men are at one 
time careless and indolent, at another, over eager and 
hasty ; but God is ever advancing towards his , with a 
steady, progressive, majestic pace. W hen we get sight 
of a favourite object, we grasp as it through possibility 
and impossibility ; we hurry on to possession too little 
scrupulous about the means. To God all things are 
possible ; and he is the rock, his work is perfect, for 
all his ways are judgment ; a God of truth and with¬ 
out iniquity ; just and right is he.” Men ignorantly 
and weakly judge of their Maker by themselves, and 
foolishly attempt to regulate the divine procedure by 
their own preconceived opinions of it: “ Behold I 
thought,” said Naaman the Syrian, u he will surely 
come out to me, and stand, and call upon the name 
of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the 
place, and recover the leper;” but God had said, 
“ Go and wash in Jordan seven times and thou shalt 
be clean.” It is rare to find a faith which steadily, 
cheerfully, and constantly w^alks hand in hand with 
the purpose and promise of Heaven. We either 
“ stagger at the promise, through unbelief ” or impa¬ 
tiently strive to bring forward the accomplishment by 
indirect methods. 



LECtt. XIV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


16i 


When we look into history, how unlike do events 
appear from the form into which they were previously 
shaped by the fond expectations of the persons con¬ 
cerned ! The Jews in the person of Messiah, looked 
for a prince who should revive the faded splendour 
of David’s throne ; but the Messiah whom God raised 
up, established a kingdom “ of righteousness and 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” The disciples 
are dreaming of sitting at their Master’s right and left 
hand, when “ the kingdom should be restored to 
Israelhe is sending them forth to “ suffer shame 
for his name.” 

The sentiment of the prophet which I have now’ 
read, as the foundation of another Lecture on the 
history of Abram, is just and striking. “ He that 
believeth shall not make haste.” Faith neither lags 
behind, nor strives to outrun the word of God. “ Thus 
saith the Lord,” is its rule and measure ; it endures, 
waits, proceeds, acts, refrains, as “ seeing him who is 
invisible.” But in the most composed, firmest, and 
faithfulest of believers, we find the frailties and infirm¬ 
ities of the man frequently predominant ; and a slight¬ 
er temptation sometimes prevailing, after more severe 
and difficult trials have been withstood and overcome. 
Nothing can exceed the solemnity with which God ra¬ 
tified his covenant with Abram, as recorded in the fif¬ 
teenth chapter of Genesis. Under the sanction of the 
most awful forms and ceremonies, a son is promised, 
the future father of a numerous offspring ; and an in¬ 
heritance is allotted to that chosen seed, by him who 
has all things in heaven and in earth at his disposal. 
Abram takes the word of God as a full security; be¬ 
lieves and rejoices. He had now dwelt ten years in 
Canaan ; and notwithstanding his advanced period of 
life, we find him discovering nothing like eagerness or 
impatience; he “ believed” and therefore did “ not 
make haste.” But though he was not the first to de¬ 
vise an undue and intemperate method of arriving at 
Vol. I. « X 


162 


HISTORY OR ABRAM. 


LECT. XIV. 


the accomplishment of the promise, we find him ready 
enough to adopt one of this nature when it was sug¬ 
gested to him. 

It was now put beyond a doubt, that Abram should 
become a father, but it has not yet been declared ex¬ 
plicitly that Sarai shall be a mother. With the anxiety 
natural to women in her circumstances, however, we 
may suppose her to hope till she could hope no longer. 
At length, her feelings as a wife gave way to her con¬ 
cern about her husband’s glory and happiness ; and 
she consents to Abram’s having children by another, 
rather than that he should not have children at all. 
Projects formed and executed in haste, are generally 
repented of at leisure ; and when w e fly in the face ei¬ 
ther of nature or of religion, w~e shall spedily and in¬ 
fallibly find both the one and the other much too pow¬ 
erful for us. Sarai’s was a lot to be envied by most 
women ; beautiful and beloved even to old age ; mis¬ 
tress of an ample fortune and a numerous train of do¬ 
mestics ; the w ife of a prince, and, w hat is much more, 
of an amiable and excellent man. But the glory and 
joy of all these flattering circumstances were marred 
and diminished by one perverse accident, “ she bare 
Abram no children.” Not blindly and capriciously, 
but in wisdom and in righteousness, the great God ap¬ 
portions to the sons of men good and evil in this life ; 
that none may be exalted above measure, and that none 
may sink into dejection and despair. During Abram’s 
sojourn in Egypt, Pharaoh, smitten with Sarai’s beau¬ 
ty, had made his court to her, on the presumption of 
her being a single women, by the usual modes of at¬ 
tention, and presents numerous and costly, suitable to 
his rank and the manners of the times ; “ sheep, oxen, 
he-asses, men-servants, maid-servants, she-asses, and 
camels.” Of the female servants probably bestowed 
upon that occasion, one is now brought particularly in¬ 
to view, and occupies a conspicuous place hencefor¬ 
ward in this history. The deception attempted by 


LECT. XIV. 


HISTORY OF iABRAM. 


163 


Abram, in making his wife pass for a sister, is very lit¬ 
tle to his credit; and his accepting presents from Pha¬ 
raoh, circumstanced as he was and knowing what he 
did, was far from being an honourable proceeding ; in¬ 
deed no good could be expected to come of it; and 
though God did not, at the time, reproach him for his 
conduct by a verbal reproof, he is now preparing, by 
his righteous providence, to make him feel that he had 
acted wrong. Thus, the monuments of our faults be¬ 
come the instruments of our punishment. Sarai pro¬ 
poses to her husband to assume this Egyptian hand¬ 
maid, Hagar, as a secondary, or inferiour wife ; in hope 
of building up a family by her, and thus of making the 
promise to take effect. Unnatural as this may appear, 
it is far from being without a parallel. The truth is, it 
is very natural and very common, to try to get rid of a 
present pressure, though with the hazard of subjecting 
ourselves to a heavier burthen. Every thing was 
wrong here. A shameful distrust of God; an attempt 
to introduce a foreign and perhaps an idolatrous mother 
into the family of Abram; a most unwise and incon¬ 
siderate tampering with her husband’s affection ; a 
foundation laid of probable, if not of certain domestic 
jealousies and quarrels ; evil done in vain expectation 
that good may come of.it. Abram complies with the 
suggestion of his wife, and Hagar conceives. It re¬ 
quires not the gift of prophecy to foresee the conse¬ 
quence. Hagar becomes vain and insolent, and Sarai 
is thoroughly mortified. The handmaid now considers 
herself as her mistress’ equal, if not her superiour; 
she views Abram’s vast possessions, and vaster pros¬ 
pects, as entailed on her posterity. Little and wicked 
minds are soon elevated, and as easily depressed. The 
whole of Sarai’s behaviour, is that of a peevish, unrea¬ 
sonable, disappointed woman. The wise scheme was 
of her own contriving : and now that she feels the ef¬ 
fect of her impetuosity and rashness, she turns the edge 
of her resentment against her innocent husband; “ and 


164 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XIV. 


Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee : I 
have given my maid into thy bosom, and when she saw 
that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: 
the Lord judge between me and thee,” Gen. xvi. 5. 
How weak, wicked, and absurd is all this! Had the 
good man formed a deliberate design of injuring and' 
insulting her, she could not have employed harsher lan¬ 
guage ; and yet whatever evil has been committed, was 
her own devising. But the language of passion is ever 
contradictory and inconsistent. u My wrong be upon 
thee.” Why should it ? “ My folly recoils upon my¬ 
self,” would have been the language of truth and jus¬ 
tice. She dares not, even in her rage, accuse Abram 
of incontinency, but reluctantly discerns and acknow¬ 
ledges her own rashness : u I have given my maid in¬ 
to thy bosom, and when she saw that she had con¬ 
ceived, I was despised in her eyes.” The tide of anger 
says not it is enough, knows not where to stop : “ The 
Lord judge between me and thee.” Who would not 
conclude, from an appeal so solemn, that she has the 
better cause ? And yet, she is appealing to God in a 
case where she was clearly, consciously in the wrong. 

I like not hasty references to Heaven. A truly serious 
spirit will reflect twice before it interposes the name of 
God on any occasion, and shudder at the thought of 
employing it upon a false or frivolous one ; an angry 
spirit sticks at nothing. For this reason, I will sooner 
believe a plain unprofessing man, on his simple word, 
than ten thousand common swearers, under the sanc¬ 
tion of as many oaths. 

See into what disorder one ill advised measure has 
thrown, a,/happy, well regulated family. Abram’s ill- 
judged compliance with the precipitate advice of his 
wife, has embroiled him in contention with herself; it 
constrains him to connive at her cruel treatment of an 
unhappy woman, who is at least to be pitied as much 
as blamed; and renders the prospect of the promised 
seed a heavy affliction, instead of a blessing. Sarai is 


X.ECT. XIV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


165 


betrayed by the eagerness of her spirit, first into an 
absurdity : then into unkindness and undutifulness to¬ 
wards her lord; then into profanity and impiety to¬ 
wards God : then by an easy transition into barbarity 
towards a wretched slave, who was entirely at her mer¬ 
cy, who had been brought, without any high degree of 
criminality, into a condition which claims compassion 
and attention from all; brought into it by herself too ; 
and this to the endangering, for aught she knew, of all 
the hopes of her husband’s family, and the greater in¬ 
terests of the human race. Hagar, hapless wretch! 
an object of commiseration throughout : led, perhaps 
reluctantly, to her master’s bed, elevated to a transient 
gleam of hope, exulting in the prosperity of a moment, 
hurried instantly back, by all the severities which jea¬ 
lousy can inflict, into the horrors of slavery, and driven 
from visionary prospects of bliss, into scenes of real 
distress ; ready to perish with the innocent unborn fruit 
of her womb, in the wilderness, bv famine, or the jaws 
of some ravenous beast; for “ when Sarai dealt hard¬ 
ly with her, she fled from her face.” In what deep 
and accumulated wo, I say, may one inconsiderate step 
involve the children of men ! And if good and well 
intentioned people suffer thus severely from one act of 
rashness and imprudence, who but must tremble to 
think of the fearful consequence of deliberate wicked¬ 
ness ? A thousand volumes written against polygamy, 
could not lead to a clearer, fuller conclusion, against 
that practice, than the story under review. 

Mark now, how seasonably and suitably God inter¬ 
poses to rectify all this disorder. When we have wea¬ 
ried ourselves with our own devices, and snared our¬ 
selves in the works of our own hands, Providence 
takes up the case, subdues it to its own wise and gra¬ 
cious purposes, and turns evil into good. Hagar flies 
from the face of her unkind mistress, but happily for 
her, she cannot flee from God. The interest which 
Abram now has in her, gives her an interest in the pe¬ 
culiar care and protection of the Almighty. 


166 


HISTORY OP ABRAM. 


LECT. XIV, 


This is the first time we read in Scripture of the ap¬ 
pearance of an angel; and it was to reprove, exhort, 
and succour a helpless afflicted woman : and thus is 
mercy ever more ready to come at the call of misery, 
than justice to pursue the footsteps of guilt. From the 
whole tenour of the history, we are led to conclude, 
that this heavenly vision was the uncreated angel, God 
in the form, and performing the office of a “ minister¬ 
ing spiritfor this angel assumes the name and attri¬ 
butes of God, speaks of Hagar’s present condition, and 
future prospects, with the knowledge peculiar to Deity ; 
and describes die extraordinary future greatness of the 
male child with which she was pregnant, as his own 
work. The event demonstrates whose the prediction 
was : and Hagar evidently considered the person who 
spake with her in this light; for she ascribes to him 
the incommunicable name Jehovah , and adores him as 
the omniscient, omnipresent God. And the angel of 
the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed ex¬ 
ceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 
And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou 
are with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his 
name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy af¬ 
fliction. And he will be a wild man ; his hand will be 
against every man, and every man’s hand against him, 
and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. 
And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto 
her, Thou God seest me : for she said, Have I al¬ 
so here looked after him that seeth me,” Gen. xvi. 
10—13. 

A great multitude of striking circumstances press 
upon us in the careful perusal of these words. Does 
God condescend to exercise all this care and tender¬ 
ness about a person so obscure, helpless, and unbe¬ 
friended as Hagar; then who is beneath his notice, or 
unimportant in his sight ? Are the secondary and sub¬ 
ordinate designs of his providence of such extensive 
and permanent consequence to the world? Then, of 


LECT. XIV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


167 


what infinite and eternal weight is his first great lead¬ 
ing object ? If an Ishmael be introduced into the world 
with so much pomp and solemnity, what must the 
birth of an Isaac be? And what must it be, when God 
bringethhis own first-begotten upon the scene, whom 
all the angels are commanded to worship? How aston¬ 
ishingly awful is that foreknowledge, which discovered 
before he was born IshmaePs character; and that 
power which predetermined and affected the character 
and state of his posterity to the latest ages, while as 
yet their progenitor was in his mother’s womb ? How 
are all the designs of the Most High, in the course of 
his adorable providence, and the execution of them, 
rendered subservient to one glorious purpose, which 
rises superiour to, and aosorbs all the rest—the plan of 
salvation by a Redeemer ! How wisely are the chil¬ 
dren both of the bond woman and of the free, remind¬ 
ed of the lowness and helplessness of their original ! 
“ A Syrian ready to perish was my father,” says the 
one; “an Egyptian bond maid ready to perish was my 
mother,” says the other. 

What a happy circumstance it was for Hagar to have 
lived so long in Abram’s house ! Liberty in Egypt had 
not proved a blessing so great, as slavery in Canaan. 
To be exalted to the dignity of a mother to princes ! 
To be introduced to the knowledge of the living and 
true God ! How different are the appearances of Pro¬ 
vidence, considered at the moment, and viewed through 
the medium of reflection and experience ! Under the 
impulse of sorrow or of joy, we cry out “ all these 
things are against me,” or it is good for me to be 
herebut when the account comes to be arranged, 
after the transport is over, we find ourselves necessi¬ 
tated to transfer many articles to the opposite pages, 
and to state that as favourable, which once we called 
adverse ; and that a misfortune, which once we ac¬ 
counted a blessing. 


168 


HISTORY OF ABRAM* 


LECT. XIV. 


The history informs us of Hagar’s flight, but leaves 
us to draw our own conclusions respecting her return. 
Indeed we may now suppose all parties to have been 
brought a little to themselves* The solitude and dan¬ 
gers of the wilderness and the apparition of the angel, 
awful, though in mercy, have, of course, greatly dimin¬ 
ished in Hagar’s mind the rigour of her mistress’ treat¬ 
ment and she is glad to return to her former habita¬ 
tion. The sudden disappearing of her maid : the just 
apprehension of the evil which might have befallen a 
dt sperate woman in her delicate situation; time, seri¬ 
ous reflection, and remorse for her cruel and unjust 
behaviour must surely have humbled the spiritand mol¬ 
lified the heart of Sarai, and disposed her to receive the 
returning fugitive, if not with marks of external com¬ 
plaisance, at least with secret and silent satisfaction* 
And Abram, always wise, and gentle, and good, would 
now necessarily rejoice in the restored peace of his 
family ; in this fresh demonstration of the divine ten¬ 
derness towards himself and all who belonged to him ; 
in the farther enlargement and extent of the blessing 
promised; and in the prospect of the final and full ac¬ 
complishment of all that the Lord had spoken. 

According to the word of the angel, Hagar in due 
time bears a son to Abram, in the sixty-eighth year of 
his age, and the eleventh after his departure from Ur of 
the Chaldees. To preserve for ever the memory of the 
divine interposition, the name given to the child by the 
angel in the wilderness, is put upon him by his pious 
father, to whom, no doubt, Hagar had carefully relat¬ 
ed the whole transaction, Ishmael , “ God shall hear,” 
because God heard, pitied, and relieved her affliction. 
And such was the origin of the father and founder of 
the Arabian nation; a people who, in their character 
and manners, through every period of their history, 
evince from what root they sprung, and verify the pre¬ 
diction concerning their progenitor, “ he will be a wild 


LECT. XIV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


169 


man, his hand will be against every man, and every 
man’s hand against him.” And history illustrates the 
expression of the angel, “ and he shall dwell in the 
presence of all his brethren.” For whereas the sla¬ 
very and subjection of all other nations make a consi¬ 
derable part of their history, that of the Arabs is entire¬ 
ly composed of a relation of their conquests, or their 
independence. They are at present, and have conti¬ 
nued through the remotest ages, during the various and 
successive victorious expeditions of Greeks, Romans, 
and Tartars, a separate, free, an independent, and an 
invincible nation ; a mighty band of industrious robbers, 
united among themselves, and formidable to all the 
world ; inhabiting a vast country of one thousand three 
hundred miles in length, and one thousand two hun¬ 
dred in breadth—one region of which, from the purity 
and salubrity of its air, and the fertility of its soil, is de¬ 
servedly denominated the happy; it produces the finest 
fruits, spices, and perfumes in the world, and is remark¬ 
able for breeding the most beautiful and useful animals 
of their kind, horses, camels, and dromedaries. 

We hasten to conclude this Lecture, by adding to 
the reflections already made, this farther one, that we 
are not to judge of the greatness and importance of the 
designs of Providence, by any worldly marks of distinc¬ 
tion and pre-eminence. The posterity of Ishmael was 
much earlier, and has been much longer established, 
and existed in a much higher degree of national dig¬ 
nity and consequence, than the posterity of Isaac. But 
in the line of Isaac, not that of Ishmael, run the pro¬ 
mises of life and salvation. To Isaac and not to his 
elder brother, pertained “ the adoption, and the glory, 
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the 
service of God, and the promises,” and of him “ as 
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God 
blessed for ever.” The things which are highly esteem¬ 
ed among men, are often of no price in the sight of 
Him, who “ hath chosen the foolish things of the world 
Vol. I. Y 


170 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECT. XIV. 


to confound the wise, weak things to confound the 
mighty, base things of the world, and things which are 
despised, yea, and things which are not, to bring to 
naught things which are, that no flesh should glory in 
his presence. ,, With Ishmael we have nothing to do, 
nor with his posterity : they are to us only a wild man 
and a wild people, inhabiting such a region of the globe. 
But in Isaac and the fortunes of his family we are deep¬ 
ly interested indeed, as the apostle Paul writing to the 
Galatians clearly evinceth: and his words shall be the 
evangelical illustration of the subject. “Abraham had 
two sons; the one by a bond-maid, the other by a free 
woman, but he who was of the bond-woman was born 
after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by pro¬ 
mise , which things are an allegory,” (that is, one thing 
is expressed, and another hinted at or signified) “ for 
these are the two covenants : the one from the Mount 
Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar; 
for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth 
to,” or is in the same rank with, “Jerusalem, which 
now is, and is in bondage with her children. But 
Jerusalem which is above, is free, which is the mother 
of us all. For it is written, rejoice thou barren that 
bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest 
not, for the desolate hath more children than she which 
hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, 
are the children of promise: but as then, he that was 
born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after 
the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith 
the scripture ? Cast out the bond-woman and her son ; 
for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with 
the son of the free-woman. So then, brethren, we 
are children not of the bond-woman, but of the free.” 
Gal. iv. 22—31. 

Behold the two prime branches of Abram’s family 
from their birth down to this day, separated, support¬ 
ed, distinguished from the rest of mankind, and from 
each other, a standing proof of the power and provi- 


LECT. XIV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


171 


dence of God, and a demonstration of the authenticity 
of that revelation which we acknowledge as divine, and 
on which we build all our faith and hope. “ Behold, 
the counsel of the Lord shall stand for ever, and the 
purpose of his heart to a thousand generations.” God 
grant us wisdom to understand and to do his will, to the 
glory of his great name, and our own eternal salvation. 
Amen. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


LECTURE XV. 

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some 
have entertained angels unawares. —Heb. xiii. 2. 


When men are disappointed in their expectations, 
it is natural for them to become negligent about the 
performance of their duties. Irritated or grieved at 
one thing, they grow careless in every thing; and be¬ 
cause another has failed in affection or respect to us, 
we suffer ourselves to behave unkindly and disrespect¬ 
fully to others. The effect which mortification, disap¬ 
pointment, or injuries, have upon truly good minds, 
is, however, the reverse of this; the vexation or dis¬ 
tress they themselves have endured, is the strongest 
of incentives to prevent, as far as they are able, simi¬ 
lar occasion of affliction to their brethren of mankind. 

Men stand continually in need of each other, and 
therefore every man is bound to give his countenance, 
to shew kindness, and to grant support to every man. 
We cannot move a single step through the world, with¬ 
out being brought into connection with strangers, and 
of course, without having opportunities afforded us 
of doing or receiving some instance of hospitality. To 
be careless or unkind in this respect, then, is to be at 
once unwise, inhuman, and unjust. Christianity has 
taken into its service every valuable and worthy prin¬ 
ciple of our nature, and calls the whole catalogue of 
human virtues its own. As we are cont inually remind- 




LECT. XV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAM. 


173 


ed, in the course of providence, of our being pilgrims 
and strangers upon earth, so we are strictly and repeat¬ 
edly enjoined by the laws of the gospel, to be attentive 
and kind to strangers. “ Be given to hospitality,” says 
Paul. “Use hospitality one to another, without grudg¬ 
ing,” says Peter; and in the words I have read, the 
apostle recommends the same duty of humanity, “ be 
not forgetful to entertain strangers,” which he enforces 
by a motive which every heart must feel, “ for thereby 
some have entertained angels unawares.” It is of this 
motive, and of the history to which it refers, that we 
are now to discourse. 

After a delay of ten years, the promise of a son is 
made good to Abram. But as he consulted not God in 
the means of obtaining that blessing, so God consults 
not his views and expectations in the character and 
destination of the son given to him. For it is one 
thing to be blessed and to prosper in the gifts of Pro¬ 
vidence, and another to be blessed in the course of the 
promise, and according to the tenour of the covenant. 
The seed which the Most High sware that he would 
raise up, was to prove a universal benefit to mankind; 
but the son whom Hagar bare, was to be “a wild man; 
whose hand should be against every man, and every 
man’s hand against him : Abram therefore is apparent¬ 
ly as far as ever from his favourite object; and as a 
farther trial of his faith, perhaps to punish him for devi¬ 
ating from the strict line of his duty, though with an 
honest intention, thirteen years more are permitted to 
elapse, and yet no symptom of the expected mercy 
appears. 

At that period, while the improbability, in the course 
of nature, was daily increasing, Abram is again visited 
with the visions of the Almighty. Our attendance up¬ 
on God must be constant and assiduous, and it is 
equally our interest and our duty to wait upon him; but 
if he makes himself known to us at all, at whatever sea- 
son, in whatever manner, it is infinite grace and conde- 


174 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XV. 


scension. Jehovah’s appointed time is now at length 
come to enter on the performance of his own work in 
his own way. The very first word that proceeds from 
his lips removes every difficulty, though natural obsta¬ 
cles might seem increased : “ I am the Almighty God,” 
Gen. xvii. 1.—or God All-sufficient; fear therefore no 
failure of the covenant on my part, for what truth hath 
spoken, that shall omnipotence bring to pass : and see 
that there be no unfaithfulness on thine, “ walk before 
me, and be thou perfect.” The former declarations 
concerning a numerous offspring are renewed, and an 
alteration is made in the patriarch’s name, importing 
his relation to a multitude of princes and nations who 
should spring from him. To the eye of nature the 
title is premature; but faith considers that as done 
which is promised. Observe Abraham’s posture while 
God talks with him ; “ he fell on his face,” Gen. xvii. 3. 
The presence of the Almighty is the loudest call to hu¬ 
mility, and the more any one knows of God, the more 
he must fear before him. Behold Abraham fallen to 
the ground, and angels covering their faces with their 
wings, and tremble thou, O man, before him! 

But the trial of Abraham’s faith and obedience is not 
yet over. God has appeared, not to fulfil the promises 
under the first covenant, but to enter into a second: 
and, instead of receiving the long-expected son, he is 
commanded to perform an unpleasant and painful ope¬ 
ration upon his own body, and upon all the males of 
his family. To qualify, however, the bitterness of this 
prescription, the promise becomes more express, and 
brings that darling object closer to the eye ; it is now 
declared that Sarai, whose name too was changed, as a 
witness and token of the event, should bare a son, and 
that next year should at length crown all his wishes, 
and evince the truth and faithfulness of God. Abra¬ 
ham acquiesces with gratitude and joy. He had be¬ 
lieved and trusted God, when the event was more ob¬ 
scure and remote, and now that it is more distinctly 


LECT. XV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


175 


seen and brought to the very eve of accomplishment, 
his heart exults with purer and more sensible delight. 
This the scripture expresses, by saying, he fell on his 
face and laughed; a circumstance which Providence 
instantly lays hold of, and perpetuates to every future 
generation the memory of Abraham’s faith on this oc¬ 
casion—the son that should be born, shall by his name, 
Isaac , he shall laugh , express that emotion, which his 
pious, believing father felt, when the will of God was 
revealed to him. Abraham laughed in faith, and is re¬ 
warded every time he beholds his son, or hears his 
name pronounced, by the approbation of God and his 
own conscience : Sarah afterwards laughed in incredu¬ 
lity, and was as often reproved for her unbelief. 

We hear not Abraham inquiring into the reasons or 
meaning of God’s covenant of circumcision; and we 
will imitate his pious reserve and submission. It was 
sufficient to him, and be it so to us that thus God 
would have it be. That the great Jehovah should 
have distinguished the descendants of that family from 
all the families of the earth, by this token, and continue 
to the present hour thus to distinguish them, after almost 
every other badge of difference is obliterated and 
lost; that the posterity of Abraham should persevere 
in this practice, through a period so extended, and that 
no other nation should ever have adopted it as an esta¬ 
blished rite of their religion, is one of those apparent¬ 
ly unimportant circumstances which are ready to es¬ 
cape the hasty eye, but which, in connexion with other 
proofs, established the truth and certainty of the scrip¬ 
ture revelation, and the constant interposition of Divine 
Providence in the affairs of men, beyond the power 
of contradiction. Behold then the rite of circumch 
sion is performed ; and Abraham sits down in the pa¬ 
tient expectation of the appointed hour of merciful visit¬ 
ation. 

One day, while he was enjoying the coolness of the 
shade at his tent door, in the heat of the day, three men 


176 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XV. 


under the appearance of travellers, presented them¬ 
selves to his view. These were three angels, say some 
of the Jewish Rabbins, and without hesitation, they 
furnish us with their names too, Michael , Gabriel , and 
Raphael . A few of the Christian fathers, on the other 
hand, contend that here was a visible representation of 
the most Holy Trinity, exhibited to Abraham as three, 
addressed and acknowledged by him as one. That 
something more than created excellence was there, 
cannot be doubted, after a careful perusal of what Mo¬ 
ses has related upon this occasion. But whether the 
mystery of the Trinity was thus, and then, revealed 
to the church in the covenant head of it, we presume 
not to affirm. It is apparent that the patriarch did not* 
during the former part of the interview, comprehend 
the nature and quality of his guests, as he neither per¬ 
forms the worship due to the most holy God, nor 
preserves that awful distance, which even the pre¬ 
sence of an angel must inspire; and the apostle, allu¬ 
ding to him in the text, says, he “ entertained angels 
unawares ,” that is, not knowing he did so. 

The scene that follows is a beautiful picture of an¬ 
cient manners, and wonderfully coincides with the cus¬ 
toms of the other nations of remote antiquity, as trans¬ 
mitted to us by their historians and poets, particularly 
Homer, that careful observer and masterly painter of 
nature and human life. 

Abraham immediately starts from his seat with all 
the agility of youth, at the sight of the strangers ; and 
with all that glow of affection which is natural to a good 
man, who had himself known the heart of a stranger, 
he tenders them every accommodation and refreshnient 
which his simple habitation could afford. Sweetness of 
temper, easiness of behaviour, and kindness of disposi¬ 
tion, are peculiarly engaging in old people, because 
these qualities do not so frequently adorn life’s decline. 
The invitation hospitably given, is cheerfully accepted. 


LECT. XV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


177 


True kindness, which is true politeness; attends to 
the little wishes and wants of those whom we entertain. 
Water to wash the feet of the weary traveller is a re¬ 
freshment, though not so necessary as a morsel of bread 
to comfort his heart, yet, in a sultry climate especially, 
not less grateful. We remember slight attentions 
after we have forgotten great benefits. The proud 
man makes a feast to gratify himself; the hospitable 
man, to rivet the bonds of friendship, or cherish the 
soul of the stranger. What a delightful simplicity runs 
through the whole story! The fare, “ cakes of fine 
meal, baked upon the hearth” by the hands of Sarah 
herself; a “ calf from the herd,” of Abram’s own 
choosing; butter and milk, the produce of their own 
pasture; their canopy, the spreading branches of an 
old tree ; their attendants, the man who had in former 
days put kings and their armies to flight; the subject 
of their conversation, Abram’s family affairs. Con¬ 
trast with this the madness of a modern fashionable 
entertainment; the profusion of far-fetched luxury, the 
emulation of wealth and pride, the ingenuity employed 
in contriving and administering incentives to excess, 
the gibberish of compliment, the restraints of ceremo¬ 
ny, the tinsel of false wit, the noise of mirth without 
joy, to the expulsion of truth and nature; a costly and 
painful collection, where nothing is wanting, but the 
very things which constitute a feast, plenty of whole¬ 
some fare, unaffected friendship, moderation, good hu¬ 
mour, and good sense. 

When we are doing our duty, we are in the way of 
procuring for ourselves gratification ; and if there be a 
virtue which is its own reward, hospitality is that vir¬ 
tue. Abram now enjoys it to the full. But little 
does he think what a repast his divine guest is provid¬ 
ing for him in return. Sarah, according to the manners 
of the times, had remained invisible, confining herself 
to her own separate tent. The angel now inquires con¬ 
cerning her, on purpose to introduce a conversation 
Vol. I. Z 


178 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XV, 


respecting the object of this visit; and assuming his 
proper character of Jehovah, subjoins a direct promise, 
that within the course of a year from that day, Abra¬ 
ham should have a son by her. Sarah, whom curiosi¬ 
ty had drawn towards the door of the tent to listen, 
overhears this conversation, and not knowing the pro»- 
mise or the power of God, treats it as a thing impossible, 
and laughs, not in joy, but in derison. She is observ¬ 
ed, detected, and reproved of Him who is at once 
faithful, good, and merciful; holy, just, and severe. 
But why is Abraham called to answer for the infirmity 
of his wife ? Was it to render the reproof more pointed 
to Sarah ? As, indeed, what can be so galling to an in¬ 
genuous mind, as to hear an innocent person called in 
question for our fault ? The criminal now stands disco¬ 
vered ; she is dragged from her lurking place, and stands 
abashed and confounded, to make her defence. Ah how 
dangerous it is to have deviated once from the path of 
rectitude! How one false step leads to another, and 
another, and another, till conviction and shame close 
the sbene. The first wrong step here was the indul¬ 
gence of an idle curiosity, a dangerous if not a sinful 
principle. People who listen generally hope or fear to 
hear something about themselves, and it seldom hap¬ 
pens that they are entirely gratified with what they 
hear. The next error was her secret disbelief of a pro¬ 
mise so frequently and so solemnly repeated : this is 
followed by the weakness of thinking to escape the 
notice of one who beheld her, though unseen, and could 
read her heart, though her person was not in view; 
and finally, deliberate falsehood attempts to conceal 
her preceding faults.- 

God neither overlooks nor forgets the errors of those 
towards whom he has thoughts of love; and happily 
the purposes of his grace are not to be defeated by the 
forwardness and folly of men. Sarah, in spite of her 
incredulity, shall become the joyful mother of a son, 
and that son shall be the source of blessings innumera- 


LECT. XV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


179 


ble, unspeakable, to mankind. God in his holyness 
hath sworn it, and “is any thing too hard for the 
Lord?” The business of this important visit being 
settled, the strangers rise, to depart, and look as if 
they would go towards Sodom; and Abraham, not 
satisfied with having performed one instance of hospi¬ 
tality, follows it up to the last with kindness and atten¬ 
tion, “ he went with them to bring them on the way.” 
Two of the three, it would seem, now disappeared, and 
Abraham is left alone with the third, and from the con¬ 
versation that ensues, we have no room left to doubt 
that he was the son of God, come down to execute 
the vengeance of Heaven upon the sinful cities of the 
plain. “ And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abra¬ 
ham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall 
surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the 
nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I 
know him, that he will command his children, and his 
household after him, and they shall keep the way of 
the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord 
may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken 
of him. And the Lord said, Because the cry of So¬ 
dom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is 
very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether 
they have done altogether according to the cry of it, 
which is come unto me: and if not, I will know. And 
the men turned their faces from thence, and toward So¬ 
dom : but Abraham stood yet before the Lord,” Gen. 
xviii. % 17, 22. The same person descends to bless 
Abraham, and to destroy Sodom: thus the same gos¬ 
pel is “ a savour of life unto life, and of death unto death, 
in them that believe, and in them that nerish;” and 
thus shall the same divine perso , be revealed in the 
end of the world, in “ flaming fire, taking vengeance 
on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel,” 
and “ to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all 
them that believe,” 2 Thess, i. 8, 10. 


180 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XV. 


Abraham having obtained mercy himself, becomes 
an intercessor lor his sinful neighbours. The judgments 
of God are very awful to a serious mind; fools only 
make a mock at sin, and its fearful consequences. But 
the whole scene is to interesting and instructive to be 
brought forward in the close of a Lecture, especially as 
it is necessary, before dismissing you, to make some 
reflections of a practical tendency from what has been 
spoken. 

—You see, my friends, of what moment the salva¬ 
tion of a lost world is in the sight of God. At how 
many times, in how many different manners, did God 
speak of this subject unto the fathers ? How many em¬ 
bassies of angles; how many appearances of the migh¬ 
ty Angel of the covenant himself? As if the great God 
had been carrying on no design from the beginning, 
but one, a design of love to guilty fallen men: that 
one, which of all others guilty fallen men treat with 
the greatest slight and contempt What! shall that 
purpose and plan which occupied the eternal mind 
from everlasting; to mature and execute which the 
world was created; which has been declared to man 
by so many signs in heaven above, and on earth be¬ 
neath, by the tongues of so many prophets, by so many 
oracles; to announce which angels and archangels 
have descended from their thrones; and to accomplish 
which, God was made manifest in the flesh, taberna¬ 
cled among men, and proclaimed the great salvation— 
shall it be announced, unfolded, executed in vain ? And 
will thoughtless, inconsiderate creatures, continue to 
treat.it as a thing of naught? O when shall we cordi¬ 
ally enter into the views of God our Maker and Re¬ 
deemer, and earnestly pursue the same object with him, 
the salvation of ourselves and others ! 

God is not sensibly present with us as he was with 
Abraham, but he is as really so, as if the eye beheld 
him, and as if we conversed with him face to face. O 
man, God is in thy heart and conscience; God is in this 


LECT. XV. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


181 


place; in this book : and he is the same yesterday, to¬ 
day, and for ever. The visions of the Almighty to 
Abraham are visits of mercy to you. How easily 
could he draw aside the veil which conceals him from 
your eyes, and where we see nothing but empty space, 
discover to us a martial host of “ chariots and horse¬ 
men of fire.” But he is to be now discerned only by 
the eye of faith, and we must be satisfied to “ see in a 
glass darkly.” The awful period approaches when the 
veil shall drop, and we ourselves, disembodied spirits, 
shall see, and feel, and converse with the Father of 
spirits. Let, u thou God seest me,” O man! be the 
leading, commanding idea of thy life, in the city and 
in the field, in society and in solitude, by night and by 
day, and when you come to die, you will find you have 
not far to go ; to be “ absent trom the body” is to be 
“present with the Lord.” Is it so pleasant and im¬ 
proving to contemplate the detached fragments of the 
plan of providence and redemption, which is all we can 
attain in this state ? What will it be in yonder world of 
bliss, to be endowed with a capacity of comprehending 
the whole vast design, and to have the harmony, con¬ 
nection, and dependence of the several parts revealed 
to us by Him who is both the author and finisher of it. 
Eagerly hungering after the fruit of this tree of life, 
“ which grow T s in the midst of the paridise of God,” 
this tree of knowledge of good but not of evil, let us be 
humbly and modestly, but carefully and constantly 
searching the scriptures, in which alone the way of 
eternal life is declared, and that life is the Son of 
God. And may God give us understanding in all 
things ; and to his name be praise. Amen. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECTURE XVI. 

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith , Abraham 
believed God , and it was imputed unto him for righte¬ 
ousness : and he was called the friend of God — 
James ii. 23. 

Of all the temporal blessings which God in his ex¬ 
uberant goodness hath bestowed upon mankind, one 
of the greatest, if not the chief, is a sincere and vir¬ 
tuous friend. Into the composition of this character 
enter all the amiable and excellent qualities which our 
nature possesses; and in a commerce of virtuous friend¬ 
ship, we find the exertion of the noblest principles, and 
a display of the worthiest actions. The person who is 
approved and esteemed of wise and good men, must 
himself be wise and good. To what a pitch of dignity 
then is the patriarch Abraham raised? Venerable in 
possessing the esteem of men; infinitely more venera¬ 
ble, as distinguished by the approbation and friendship 
of God. Volumes written in his praise, and contain¬ 
ing a particular enumeration of his virtues, could not 
say more than the few words of the apostle which have 
now been read. All that is necessary, in order to ex¬ 
plain them, is to have recourse to his history, to mark 
his character, to observe his conduct; and on the other 
hand to trace the dispensations of the Divine Provi¬ 
dence towards him, and to attend to the manner in 
which it pleased God to treat him, in order to learn 
how this sacred friendship was constituted, and in what 
it consisted. And, on the part of Abraham, we shall 




HISTORY OF ABRAHAM* 


183 


XECT. XVI. 

find cheerful and prompt obedience, unbounded trust 
and confidence, profound reverence and fervent love; 
on the part of God, the most winning condescension, 
the tegderest affection, the most unshaken constancy. 
One essential quality of true friendship entered parti¬ 
cularly into this, namely, communication of purpose 
and design. Abraham indeed could have no view or 
intention but what lay open to the eye of God, as soon 
as formed within his own breast; but the designs of the 
Most High could be known to him only as they were 
revealed. 

We are presented with a very remarkable instance 
of such gracious comunication, in the close of that 
interview, the commencement of which has already 
passed under review. God having confirmed the faith 
of Abraham, and reproved the infidelity of Sarah re¬ 
specting the promised seed, unfolds a farther design he 
had in this solemn visit to our world. He has come to 
execute judgement as well as to shew mercy ; for u our 
God is a consuming fire.” But the hands of Omnipo¬ 
tence are as it were bound up, till Abraham the friend 
of God is made aquainted with what is meditating. 
“ Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do ?” 
As afterwards he said to Lot, when he wished to hasten 
his flight from the midst of destruction, “ Escape 
thither, for I cannot do any thing until thou be come 
thither.” ,r 

The character given of Abraham well deserves the 
attention of every father, of every master. “ For I 
know him, that he will command his children, and his 
household after him, and they shall keep the way of the 
Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may 
bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of 
him,” Gen. xviii. 19. The secret divulged under this 
sacred seal, is God’s determination speedily and sig¬ 
nally to destroy Sodom, and the neighbouring cities, 
whose profligacy was arrived to such a height, as suf¬ 
fered not justice to rest. Whatever thoughtless men 


184 HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT. XVI* 

I 

may think of sin, it can be no light thing which reaches 
the eternal throne, calls forth the terrors of Almighty 
Power, and brings down the Most High from heaven 
to earth. Abraham, justly alarmed at this intinqgtion, 
with the sympathy and tenderness natural to a good 
mind, takes upon him to intercede in behalf of his un¬ 
happy neighbours, now placed on the very brink of 
ruin. A truly gracious spirit is never harsh and un¬ 
merciful. The vilest criminal, when delivered up to 
the punishment he justly merits, excites compassion in 
the feeling and humane. The persons who themselves 
most need forgiveness, are generally the most unre¬ 
lenting, and make lightest of the judgments of God 
upon others. 

Lot, allured by the beauty and fertility of the plain 
of Sodom, had chosen to fix his residence there, when 
he parted from his uncle, and is now ready to pay 
dearly for the imprudence of that choice. When we 
view an object but in one light, that which strikes us 
first, and flatters us most, and when we make choice 
of it for a few more obvious and attractive qualities, 
we are laying up for ourselves sorrow and remorse in 
the day when experience has opened our eyes to the 
discovery of circumstances, unheeded or overlooked 
before. In Abraham’s place an ordinary mind would 
have enjoyed, at least, a temporary triumph, when So¬ 
dom was threatened; the triumph of sagacity and ease, 
over rashness, imprudence, and danger. But far dif¬ 
ferent concerns occupy Abraham’s breast; concern 
about the interests of God’s glory, and about precious 
souls ready to perish. The whole intercessory scene is 
affecting in a very high degree, and needs no commenta¬ 
ry to illustrate its force and beauty. I shall simply read 
it: “ And Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou 
also destroy the righteous with the wicked ? Peradven- 
ture, there be fifty righteous within the city ; wilt thou 
also destroy, and not spare the place for the fifty righ¬ 
teous that are therein ? That be far from thee to do 


LECT. XVI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


185 


after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wick¬ 
ed, and that the righteous should be as the wicked; 
that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the 
earth do right ? And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom 
fifty righteous within the city, then will I spare all the 
place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and 
said, Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto 
the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Peradven- 
ture there shall be five of the fifty righteous ; wilt thou 
destroy all the city for lack of five ? And he said, If I 
find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And 
he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure 
there shall be forty found there : and he said, I will 
not do it for forty’s sake. And he said unto him, Oh, 
let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak : Perad¬ 
venture there shall be thirty found there. And he 
said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he 
said, Behold, now, I have taken upon me to speak unto 
the Lord : Peradventure there shall be twenty found 
there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s 
sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and 
I will speak yet but this once : Peradventure ten shall 
be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for 
ten’s sake.” Gen. xviii. 23—32. 

It was thus that God, and Abraham the friend of 
God, lived and conversed together ; it was thus this 
sacred friendship was mutually expressed. The fear¬ 
ful catastrophe that presently ensued, falls not Within 
the design of the present Lecture, which is to trace the 
history and character of the patriarch Abraham. The 
next time he is brought into our view, we behold him 
at an awful distance contemplating that destruction 
which he could not by entreaty and intercession avert. 
Dreadful change ! That beautiful plain which had allu¬ 
red the eyes of Lot, in one eventful day converted into 
a vast smoking furnace. Cities and their inhabitants 
swallowed up in a deluge of fire. u The Lord reigneth, 
let the people tremble.” 

Vol. I. 2 A 


186 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT. XVI. 


Abraham had lived sixteen years in the plain of 
Mamre ; but now, whether by the particular direction 
of Heaven, or prompted by a natural desire to with¬ 
draw from a neighbourhood rendered unwholesome and 
unpleasant by the change which had passed upon it, 
and which incessantly presented such a tremendous 
monument of divine wrath to his eyes, he removes to 
the south-west corner of Canaan, between Kadesh and 
Shur, near the wilderness, and sojourned in the king¬ 
dom of Gerar, the country of the Philistines, and which 
afterwards, was by lot assigned to the tribe of Judah. 
And here again Abraham, through fear and suspicion, 
is induced to employ the same deceit which he had 
practised in Egypt, respecting his relation to Sarah, 
and thereby runs into the very danger which he meant 
to avoid. His conduct on this account is undoubtedly 
vere reprehensible. He was to blame for judging so 
dishonourably of mankind, as to think ill of a people 
whom he knew not—“ Surely the fear of God Is not in 
this place: and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.” 
Gen. xx. 11. Surely the fear of God was not before 
his own eyes, when he had recourse to a subterfuge so 
mean, to preserve the honour of his wife, and his own 
life. He was to blame for employing artifice a second 
time, after God had extricated him so mercifully from 
his first error. Had not God said, “ I am thy shield ?” 
and yet he fears where no fear was. Had not God 
said, “ Walk before me and be thou perfectand 
yet he yields to a slight temptation. The very apolo¬ 
gy which he makes for his conduct, when the truth was 
brought to light, discovers a mind not perfectly satisfi¬ 
ed with itself. 46 And yet indeed she is my sister : she 
is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of 
my mother; and she became my wife.” Gen. xx. 
12. O, how lovely, how majestic is simple truth ! It 
seeks no retirement, stands in need of no defence, is 
ever consistent with itself, ever inspires with courage 
him who practises it. Falsehood strips the mind of its 


LECT. XVI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


187 


conscious dignity, keeps a man perpetually in fear, puts 
invention continually on the rack to prevent the means 
of detection. But the weakness of man shall not make 
the purpose of God of none effect. Sarah, now preg¬ 
nant of the promised seed, is miraculously protected of 
Heaven, and the truth of God in Abimelech’s dream 
exposes Abraham’s waking deception. “ Surely, O 
Lord, the wrath of man shall praise thee.” • 

Abimelech, by the various uncommon circumstances 
which had affected his family and kingdom, from the 
time that Abraham had come into it, being fully per¬ 
suaded that he was a favourite of Heaven, endeavours 
by presents and courtesy to attach him closely to him¬ 
self, and prevails with him to accept a habitation in his 
country. There, it was so determined of Providence, 
Sarah was delivered of the long-expected son of pro¬ 
mise. Time creeps or flies to us, according to our 
hopes or our fears, our sorrows or our joys: but with 
God there is no quickness or slowness of progression, 
no distance of place or time. Our eagerness and im¬ 
patience cannot accelerate, our reluctance or aversion 
cannot retard his progress a single instant of time. 
The joy of such an event is rather to be imagined than 
described. The birth of a child is always matter of 
unutterable satisfaction to the mother at least; what 
then must have been the solid, the heart-felt joy of Abra¬ 
ham and Sarah, on the birth of a son, the heir of great 
possessions, the father and founder of a mighty nation, 
the progenitor, according to the flesh, of the Saviour of 
the world; given by promise, and raised up by a mi¬ 
racle ! 

Sarah herself, it wquM appear, performed the mate¬ 
rial office of suckling this precious child; neither her 
high rank, nor abundant affluence, nor advanced period 
of life, are pleaded to exempt her from this task of na¬ 
ture. According to the custom of the times Abraham 
made a great entertainment on the day that Isaac was 
weaned, when probably he was solemnly recognized a* 


188 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XVI. 


Abraham’s heir, and by some public act invested with 
his rights as such. This would naturally excite the 
envy and displeasure of Ishmael, and produced that 
insolent or contemptuous behaviour, which our trans¬ 
lation renders by the word “ mocking,” and by which 
Sarah was so much incensed, that she insisted on the 
immediate banishment of Hagar and her son. No crea¬ 
ted joy is either pure and unmixed, or of long conti¬ 
nuance. Sarah’s comfort is marred by the brutality 
and insolence of Ishmael to her son, and not improba¬ 
bly by the fear she entertained of one so much advan¬ 
ced in age, stature, and strength, above Isaac, and of 
such a wild untoward disposition. Abraham’s peace 
is destroyed, and his life embittered by the necessity he 
is under of driving from his house his own child and the 
unhappy mother. Whether the good man were crimi¬ 
nal or not, in the assumption of Hagar as his concu¬ 
bine, sure I am, first and last, he smarts severely for it. 
And Isaac, the covenant head and representative of 
the church, begins at an early period of life indeed, to 
suffer persecution from the jealousy and malignity of 
the serpent’s issue. Thus, in every state and condition 
of human life, God sets one thing against another, that 
we may still and ever be brought to the recollection, 
that “ this is not our rest.” We are more surprised at 
the slender provision w ith which Hagar and Ishmael 
are dismissed, than at the dismission itself. That the 
patriarch, for the sake of peace at home, should con¬ 
sent to part with the bond-woman and her son, is very 
conceivable ; but that they should be turned adrift into 
the wide world, without protection, without attendant, 
without provision, except so much bread and water as 
the wretched mother could carry upon her own shoul¬ 
ders ; these are circumstances which, on the usual 
principles of human conduct, appear altogether strange 
and unaccountable. But in God, the fatherless and 
the friendless ever find mercy. Lost in the wilderness, 
outcast from society, disowned and rejected, ready to 


LECT. XVI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


189 


perish with hunger and thirst, they meet with atten¬ 
tion from him who feeds the ravens, and without whom 
a sparrow falleth not to the ground. 

We may well suppose that Ishmael’s expulsion from 
his father’s house and fortunes, and the wav of life into 
which it forced him, would greatly increase his natural 
ferocity of temper, and contribute to form and fix that 
character which was given of him by the angel before he 
was bom, “he shall be a wild man; his hand will be 
against every man, and every man’s hand against him ; 
and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” 
God brings his predictions to pass, not always, nor 
generally, by miraculous interposition, but by the ope¬ 
ration and concurrence of natural causes. “ He be¬ 
came an archer,” lived by declaring war on the beasts 
of the field, and gradually brought himself to hear, 
and even to prefer that way of living, which had at 
first been obtruded upon him by the strong hand of 
necessity. So happily is our nature framed, that use 
at length reconciles the mind to what was in prospect 
insupportable, and, at first, galling and distressful. 
Hagar, in resentment probably of the treatment she 
had met with,,in order to widen the breach, and to bar 
the way to reconciliation, forms a marriage for her son 
with a woman of her own country; from which we 
may conclude that they went back headlong into 
idolatry. s 

The vexation arising from this domestic dissention 
has scarcely subsided, when Abraham finds himself 
embroiled with his host and protector the king of Ge- 
rar. The servants of Abimelech take violent posses¬ 
sion of a well of water which the servants of Abraham 
had digged, and the quarrel is taken up by the princi¬ 
pals themselves. Such is human nature : such is hu¬ 
man life. From the beginning to this day, miserable 
mortals have been contending and striving, and shed¬ 
ding each other’s blood about a well of water, or some 
such ground of dissention. The whole world is a pos- 


190 HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT. XVI. 

session too small for ambition and avarice, and selfish¬ 
ness considers that as taken from us which another en¬ 
joys. Happily, moderation and good sense prevented 
this offence from coming to an open rupture. When 
men are disposed to peace, punctilio is easily overlook¬ 
ed ; but where there is a disposition to quarrel, it is ea¬ 
sy to magnify the most petty neglect into an affront, and 
to make an unmeaning look the occasion of a breach. 
The convention between Abram and Abimelech is ra¬ 
tified in the most solemn manner, by the making, 
that is, the cutting or dividing of a covenant according 
to the form observed on a much more important occa¬ 
sion, and which has been described in a former Lec¬ 
ture : namely, The ratification of the covenant between 
God and Abraham. But why should covenants, pro¬ 
mises, oaths, be necessary in the commerce of human 
life ? Alas! because men are false, treacherous, and 
perfidious. The awful manners and customs of times 
that are past, only serve to convince us, that in every 
age the corruption of man has been so great upon the 
earth, that ordinary obligations will not bind; that 
without the sanctions of religion, the sense of honour, 
regard to the rights of mankind, and the supposed rec¬ 
titude of human nature, are feeble and inefficacious. 
No other argument is necessary to prove that our 
nature is depraved, and that religion is necessary to 
man, than the necessity to which men have been 
reduced, in every age and nation, to secure and pre¬ 
serve the interests of truth and justice, by explicit com¬ 
pacts, and solemn appeals to the Deity: by making 
“ an oath or confirmation an end of all strife.” Abra¬ 
ham dreads Abimelech as not having the fear of God 
before his eyes. Abimelech stands in awe of Abra¬ 
ham as under the special protection of Heaven : they 
agree in one thing, in revering the sanctity of a solemn 
oath; which being interposed, they both sit down 
secure and happy; Abimelech rests satisfied that 
Abraham will do nothing to disturb his family or 


LECT. XVI. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


191 


government, or injure his person ; Abraham, that Abi- 
melech will not encroach on the rights of private pro¬ 
perty, or invade those of conscience. 

This transaction seems to have brought our patriarch 
to a resting place. He is not himself to be a potentate 
in the earth, but a great prince courts his alliance, and 
forms a league with him. The possession of Canaan 
is postponed, but Isaac is born. The son of the bond- 
woman is banished, but the son of the free-woman 
lives in his house, grows, and prospers, and increases 
in stature, and in favour with God and man. We see 
the good man now in the serenity of a vigorous, placid 
old age, enjoying all that this world can bestow on a 
virtuous mind, united to a wholesome constitution ; un¬ 
impaired by intemperance or disease, failing only by 
the gradual imperceptible decays of nature ; capable 
of enjoying life to the last. I behold the venerable man 
planting his oaks in Beersheba, solacing himself with 
the thought, that though his head was soon to be laid 
low, his Isaac would in due time repose under their 
shade. How contemptible is the spirit which considers 
self only in all that it does ! How I honour the man 
who lives to the end of life, nay, strives to prolong ex¬ 
istence, and succeeds in the attempt, by engaging in 
pursuits through which posterity is to be benefited! 
We will now leave him in this happy tranquillity of life; 
and may his trees quickly rise to shelter his aged head 
from the sultry heat of the noon-tide sun ; and be his 
Isaac a comfort greater than ever parent knew ; and 
let the tide of benevolence from his honest heart, roll 
back to its source, increased with overflowing fulness 
from the ocean of everlasting love. But the grove 
which he planted was not merely an amusement for 
old age, or an embellishment of his habitation, it was 
dedicated to God, and destined as a seat of devotion; 
there “ he called on the name of the Lord.” 

We bid him adieu then at this pleasant resting place 
of life, rejoicing in the past, and calmly waiting the 


192 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XVI. 


hour of dismission from all his trials and sorrows. But 
I dread this treacherous tranquillity. Bodes it not an 
approaching storm? the event will shew. I shall not 
anticipate, but hasten to conclude this Lecture with in¬ 
viting you to a participation in that divine friendship 
which Abraham enjoyed, and from which none are ex¬ 
cluded ; for “ the secret of the Lord is with all them 
that fear him, and he sheweth to them his holy cove¬ 
nant. What is the birth of an Isaac compared to the 
manifestation of God in the flesh ! “ To us a Son is 
born, to us a Saviour is given,” and “ in him all the 
families of the earth are blessed.” Let the history of 
Abraham teach us how vain it is to expect unmixed 
happiness in a world of vanity ; and to dread the ap¬ 
proach of a calamity when we possess uncommon ease. 
Let us adore and admire the wonder-working hand of 
God, which unseen directs, controls, subdues all crea¬ 
tures and all events to its own purposes. Let us 
trust in the Lord and do good, and love, and speak, 
and practise truth. When we see the father of the 
faithful failing and faultering, let none be high minded 
but fear, and “ let him that thinketh he standeth, take 
heed lest he fall.” Did Providence take Ishmael the 
outcast, the wild man under his protection ? Let poor 
and virtuous parents take encouragement to cast the 
care of their helpless offspring on the Father of the fa¬ 
therless and the Judge of the widow. Did one hasty 
ill-advised step involve the patriarch in such acute and 
lasting distress ? Ponder, then, O man, the paths of 
thy feet, and beware of doing evil, in expectation that 
good may come of it. 

By casting your eyes upon the sacred page, you 
will see what is to form the subject of the next dis¬ 
course. It is a topic well known, and which has been 
frequently handled, but it is one of those that will ever 
please and ever instruct. May God bless what has 
been spoken. Amen. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECTURE XVII. 

By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac : 
and he that had received the promises offered up his 
only begotten son, oj whom it was said that in Isaac 
shall thy seed be called ; accounting that God was 
able to raise him up even from the dead: from whence 
also he received him in a figure-— Reb. xi. 17, 18, 
19. 

The parts of history which please and instruct us 
most, are those which exhibit to us illustrious persons 
in trying situations, holding fast their integrity, con¬ 
ducting themselves with wisdom, and overcoming 
great difficulty by patience, and fortitude, and trust in 
God. The passages of our own lives which we recol¬ 
lect with the greatest satisfaction, and which we find 
ourselves most disposed to relate to others, are those 
which, while they passed, were involved in the greatest 
danger and distress. The memory of past joys is gen¬ 
erally insipid and disgusting, but the recollection of 
the perils which we have escaped, the obstacles which 
we have surmounted, the miseries which we have en¬ 
dured and overcome, is in truth the chief ingredient in 
the happiness of our more tranquil days, and the con¬ 
solation which a life of fatigue, exertion and calamity 
provides for the inactivity, feebleness, and retirement 
of old age. No man thinks of calling to his own re¬ 
membrance, or of describing to another, the festivity of 
an entertainment, a month after it is over ; but the hor- 
Vol. I. 2 B 




194 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XVII. 


rors of a battle or a shipwreck, are thought and talked 
of with delight, as long as we are capable of thinking 
or speaking. What a feast was Abraham preparing 
for his remaining years, by the sacrifice he tendered 
upon Mount Moriah ! What a subject of useful medi¬ 
tation, what an example of praise-worthy conduct, has 
he furnished to mankind to the end of the world ! 
This is one of the peculiarly happy portions of history 
which at once awaken and interest our feelings ; fire 
the imagination ; seize, restrain, exercise, improve the 
understanding, and powerfully tend to affect and influ¬ 
ence the conduct. As a scene in private fife, we con¬ 
template it again and again, with new and increasing 
admiration and delight; as entering into and connect¬ 
ed with the great, the divine plan of providence and re¬ 
demption, we regard it with religious veneration. 

Most men, during the bustling period of human 
life, amuse themselves with prospects of retreat and 
tranquillity in its close. And so most probably did 
Abraham. He had arrived, through much tribulation, 
at that period when nature wishes for, and expects to 
find repose. All that, a wise and good man could rea¬ 
sonably propose to himself he had, through the bless¬ 
ing of Heaven, happily attained. Religion crowned 
his multiplied temporal comforts, and opened the ce¬ 
lestial paradise to his view. Isaac, the joy of his joy, 
the essence of all his other felicities, is born, has grown 
up, is become amiable, and wise, and good. His eyes 
have seen the salvation of God, and he is ready to de¬ 
part in peace whenever the summons comes. But ah, 
how vain to think of rest till the scene be closed indeed, 
and death have sealed the weary eyes forever! All the 
trials which Abraham had hitherto endured, are mere¬ 
ly superficial wounds, compared to the keen stroke of 
that two-edged sword which now pierced him, even 
<4 to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the 
joints and marrow.’’ To suffer banishment from his 


LECT. XVII. HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


195 


country and friends at the age of seventy-five years ; 
to be driven by famine from the land of promise into 
a distant country ; to have the companion of his youth, 
and the affectionate partner of all his fortunes, repeated¬ 
ly forced from him ; to have his domestic quiet dis¬ 
turbed, and his life embittered by female jealousy and 
resentment; to be reduced to the necessity of expell¬ 
ing his elder son from his house, with the slender pro¬ 
vision of a little bread and water : these, taken either 
separately or in connection, and compared with the 
usual afflictions to which man is exposed, presents us, 
it must be'allowed, with a lot of great severity and 
hardship, but they are lost in the severity of the great¬ 
er wo yet behind. For “it came to pass after these 
things,” in addition to ail foregoing evils, and appa¬ 
rently to the defeating of the great designs planned by 
God himself, and in part executed, “ that God tried 
Abraham” in this manner : “ Take now thy son, thine 
only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into 
the land of Moriah: and offer him there for a burnt- 
offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell 
thee of,” Gen. xxii. 2. 

We mean not to go into the unnecessary criticism 
which has been employed with perhaps a good inten¬ 
tion, to vindicate the divine conduct on this occasion. 
Surely the infinitely wise God is equal to his own de¬ 
fence. He has transmitted to us this part of his proce¬ 
dure without rendering a reason, without making an 
apology; and it is presumption, not piety, which shews 
on every occasion an eagerness to reason in his behalf. 
Is it not sufficient at present to say, that men are very 
incompetent judges of the divine conduct; that a view 
of the detached parts cannot enable us to form a just 
and adequate conception of the whole ; and that with¬ 
out knowing the ultimate end and design, we must of 
necessity have a very imperfect idea of the means and 
instruments employed ? 


196 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT. XVII. 


It were easy to declaim on the horrid idea of de¬ 
manding a human sacrifice, and of employing the hand 
of a father in a service so unnatural ; on the mischief 
which might arise from an example so dreadful; on 
the manifest contradiction between this mandate and 
other laws, both general and special: and perhaps it 
were as easy to refute all such declamation, and to 
prove it nugatory and absurd. But let any man, 
learned or unlearned, read the story throughout, and 
if he is not both pleased and instructed, he must either 
be stupid or fastidious in a very high degree. 

In what manner the command of Heaven was com¬ 
municated to Abraham we are not informed. It was 
unquestionably conveyed with so much clearness and 
certainty, as left him no possibility of doubting from 
whom it came. And it again leads us to reflect on the 
irresistible power which God possesses and exercises 
over our bodies and minds, whereby he can communi¬ 
cate himself to us in a thousand ways, of which we are 
able to form no conception, and against which we 
should in vain attempt to arm ourselves. It appears 
to have been in the night season : probably when, as 
on a former occasion, God had “ caused a deep sle ep, 
and a horror of great darkness to fail upon him.” 

What a knell to the fond paternal heart ! Every 
word in the oracle seems calculated to awaken some 
painful feeling, and to increase the difficulty of compli¬ 
ance. A person of humanity like Abraham might 
naturally be supposed to revolt from the idea of a hu¬ 
man sacrifice, had the meanest slave of his household 
been demanded, and had the choice of a victim been 
left to himself. What then must have been the emo¬ 
tions of his soul, from the moment its darling object 
was mentioned by the voice of God, till the mandate 
was completed ? “ Take now thy son this must have 
at once produced eagerness of attention in a mind ever 
awake and alive to the welfare and prosperity of Isaac. 


LECT. XVII. HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


197 


The tender manner in which God is pleased to describe 
that favorite child, would undoubtedly excite the most 
pleasing hope of some new m irk of the divine regard to 
him : “ Take now thy son , thy only son, Isaac , whom 
thou lovest ,”—and invest him with all the honours of the 
promise, put him in possession of his destined inherit¬ 
ance ? Ah no ! —Turn him out a wanderer after his bro¬ 
ther Ishmael, with a loaf of bread and a bottle of water 
for his portion? Tnat had been severe; but more 
dreadful still, “ and offer him for a burnt-offering upon 
one of the mountains which I will tell the of.” 

Abraham hesitates not, argues not. He who before 
staggered not at the promise, staggers not now at the 
precept through unbelief. As a proof of his being in 
earnest, he rises immediately while it was yet early ; he 
makes all needful preparation for this heavy journey and 
costly sacrifice, with the utmost serenity and cheerful¬ 
ness ; he communicates to no one the order given him, 
lest the wickedness of others might have shaken his own 
firmness, or interrupted his progress. Having saddled 
his ass, for it was in this simple style that the great men 
of the East, in these better days of the world,, used to 
travel; having su mmoned two of his young men to at¬ 
tend and assist in the preparation, having called Isaac, 
and cleft the wood for the burnt-offering, they proceed 
together from Beersheba for the land of Moriah. 

Josephus represents Isaac at this time as in his twen¬ 
ty-fifth year, and describes him, with much appearance 
of truth, as a young man of singular accomplishments, 
both of body and of mind. The trial was, without 
doubt, greatly increased to Abraham by the delay, and 
the distance of the place of sacrifice. Had the oracle 
demanded an instant offering, the immediate impression 
of the heavenly vision would account for the sudden¬ 
ness and despatch of the execution. But leisure is af¬ 
forded for reflection; parental affection has time to 
strengthen itself; the powerful pleadings of nature must 


198 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT. XVII. 


in their turn be heard ; the oppression of grief, of fa¬ 
tigue, of old age ; the sight, the society, the conversa¬ 
tion of Isaac, combine their operation to make him re¬ 
lent, and return. But though nature knows faith, such 
as Abraham’s knows not what it is to relent. With 
steady steps, and unshaken resolution, he advances to 
the fatal spot, now first distinguished by the choice of 
God, for the scene of this wonderful sacrifice ; distin¬ 
guished in the sequel, as the seat of empire and of re¬ 
ligion among Abraham’s chosen nice ; and, finally, 
distinguished most of all by a sacrifice infinitely more 
valuable and important, and of which this of Isaac was 
but a shadow. 

Being arrived at the foot of the mountain, which was 
pointed out by some sensible token, the servants are left 
behind, and Abraham, armed with the fire and the knife, 
and Isaac bearing the wood destined to consume the 
victim, ascend together. And now, had his faith been 
capable of failing, could his purpose have changed, the 
question which Isaac, in the simplicity of his heart, 
proposed, must have triumphed over his resolution, and 
decreed the victory to flesh and blood. “And Isaac 
spake unto Abraham his father, and said. My father: 
and he said, Here am I, my son : and he said, Behold 
the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt- 
offering ? And Abraham said, My son, God will pro¬ 
vide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering : so they went 
both of them together,” Gen. xxii. 7, 8. The heart 
that feels not this is lost to sensibility. Every endea¬ 
vour to illustrate or enforce it,were idle as an attempt to 
perfume the rose, to paint the tulip into richer tints, or 
to burnish the sun into a brighter lustre. 

At length with weary steps they arrive at the place 
which God had told him of. The mighty secret, 
which had hitherto labored in the anxious paternal 
breast, must at last be disclosed, and “ the lamb for 
the burnt-offering” must be produced. It is not the 


LECT. XVII. HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


199 


sacrifice of a bullock or a sheep, which are able to make 
no resistance ; nor of a child unconscious of its situa¬ 
tion ; but of a man, whose consent must be obtained ; 
and who, either by entreaty, by argument, by speed, 
or by force, might have delivered himself. The Jew¬ 
ish historian presents us with the dialogue which pass¬ 
ed between the father and son on this occasion, striking 
and pathetic indeed, but far inferior to the beautiful 
simplicity of Moses. Having built an altar, having 
laid the wood in order upon it, and made all other 
necessary preparation, the unhappy father is thus re¬ 
presented as communicating to the devoted victim the 
will of the Most High : “ O my son, begged of God 
in a thousand prayers, and at length unexpectedly ob¬ 
tained ; ever since you were born, with what tender¬ 
ness and solicitude have I brought you up ! proposing 
to myself no higher felicity than to see you become a 
man, and to leave you the heir of my possessions. But 
the God who bestowed you upon me, demands you 
again. Prepare then to yield the sacrifice with alacri¬ 
ty. I give you up to Him, who at all seasons, and in 
all situations, has pursued us with loving kindness and 
tender mercy. You came into the world under the 
necessity of dying ; and the manner of your death is to 
be singular and illustrious, presented in sacrifice by 
your own father to the great Father of all; who, we 
may presume, considers it unfit and unbecoming, that 
you should depart out of this life by disease, in war, or 
by any other of the usual calamities to which human 
nature is subject: but who waits to receive your spirit, 
as it leaves the body, amidst the prayers and vows of 
your affectionate parent, that he may place it in perfect 
blessedness with himself. There, you shall still be the 
consolation and support of my old age, not indeed by 
your presence and conversation, but bequeathing me, 
when you depart, the presence and the blessing of the 
Almighty.” Isaac, the worthy offspring of such a 


200 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT. XVII. 


father, cheerfully complies, and piously answers—“ I 
should be unworthy of life, were 1 capable of shewing 
reluctance to obey the will of my father and m} God. 
It were enough for me that my earthiy parent alone 
called me to the altar, how much more when my hea¬ 
venly father re-demands his own.” 

He accordingly submits to be bound, and to be laid 
as a victim upon the wood. And now behold a sight 
from which nature shrinks back and stands confound¬ 
ed ;—a father lifting up his hard armed with a deadly 
weapon, to slay his only son He is already made the 
sacrifice : for with God intentions are acts ; and he re¬ 
ceives his Isaac a second time for the hand that gave 
him at first, i he voice of God is again heard. It is 
ever welcome to the ear of faith : welcome when it 
announces heavy tidings, welcome when it demands 
an Isaac ; and O, how welcome when it brings glad 
tidings of great joy ; when it says, “ Lay not thine 
hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him ; 
for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast 
not w ithheld thy son, thine only son, from me !” Gen. 
xxii. 12. 

Abraham prophesied without being conscious of it, 
when he said, “ My son, God will provide himself a 
lamb for a burnt offeringfor lo behind “ him a ram 
caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went 
and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt-offer¬ 
ing instead of his son, Gen. xxii 13. We know but 
in part, and we prophesy in part, but God sees the end 
from the beginning ; he is the rock, his work is per¬ 
fect, for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and 
without iniquity, just and right is he,” Dent, xxxii. 4. 

With what different feelings does the patriarch de¬ 
scend from the mountain! his Isaac lives, and vet his 
sacrifice is offered. He came to y it Id his dearest 
earthly delight at the call of God, and he goes away 
enriched with new blessings and fresh promises. Who 


LECT. XVII. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


201 


ever sacrificed to God and was a loser ? “ Who ever 
hardened himself against God and prospered?” 

It is impossible that any one can be so inattentive 
as not to observe, through the whole of this wonderful 
history, the mystery of redemption shadowed forth! 
Is the divine conduct, in this trial of Abraham, dark 
and inexplicable to human reason! Angels desire to 
look into the plan of gospel salvation, and are unable 
to comprehend it. Was Abraham ready at God’s 
command to offer up his only son fora burnt-offering ? 
“ God himself so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life,” John iii. 16. 
God had pity upon an afflicted earthly father, and a 
devoted child, and sent his angel to deliver him : but 
God “ spared not his own Son, but delivered him up 
for us all,” Rom. viii. 32 Isaac was ready to be 
slain, Jesus was actually put to death, Isaac cheer¬ 
fully submitted to the will of Heaven, and offered his 
throat to the sacrificing knife ; and of Jesus it is writ¬ 
ten in the sacred volume, “ Lo, I come, I delight to 
do thy will, O God, thy law is within my heart,” 
Psalm xl. 6, 8—“ he gave himself for us, a sacrifice of 
a sweet smelling savour unto God.” 

Isaac having first typified the Saviour, passes into a 
type of the elect sinner, bound and stretched upon the 
altar, in trembling apprehension of the fatal blow. 
He is reprieved by a voice from heaven ; and thus, 
when there was no eye to pity, nor hand to save our 
sinful devoted race, a voice is heard from the most ex¬ 
cellent glory, “ deliver from going down to the pit, 
I have found out a ransom.” “ 1 have laid help on 
one who is mighty to save.” Behold the ram caught 
in the thicket, conducted and detained of Providence, 
and substituted as a sacrifice in the room of Israc, and 
think of Him of whom it is written, “he was wounded 
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: 
the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with, 
Vol. I. 2 C 


202 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XVII. 


his stripes we are healed, All we like sheep have gone 
astray: we have turned every one to his own way; 
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all 
Isai. liii. 5, 6. From the tendered sacrifice of Isaac 
arose new prospects and new promises to his family : 
from the death of Christ sprung up the hope of “ an 
inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth 
not away,” to all them that believe. The substituted 
sacrifice was of God’s appointment, providing and ac¬ 
ceptance, both in the figurative and the real history, 
and by both we are instructed, that when men have 
the wisdom to submit to. and follow God their Maker, 
they may safely commit the issue of all to him. 

To view the history of Abraham in detached parts, 
is to involve ourselves in difficulty and distress—to read 
patiently to the end, is the road to light and peace and 
joy. The prejudiced Jew, and the self-conceited 
Greek, look at the cross and pronounce it foolishness, 
or fall over it as a stumbling block; but to them 
that believe, who wait the issue, who look to the end, 
“Jesus Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of 
God.” Presumptuous men will take it upon them to 
judge of a plan which is not yet executed, and will 
apply to the narrow and erroneous scale of their own 
reason and understanding, the infinite and eternal de¬ 
signs of the only wise God. When the fabric of crea¬ 
tion was completed, God pronounced all to be very 
good, and then “ the morning stars sang together, and 
all the sons of God shouted for joy:” when the plan 
of redemption is executed, then, and not till then, 
let men or angels presume to judge of the fitness or 
unfitness of it. Determine nothing before the time. 
The Lord, and the day of the Lord, is at hand. 

In meditating on this history, may not be asked— 
Who among you is with Abraham sacrificing, I do not 
say, his lawful joys, but his sinful lusts! Who among 
you is rising up early, and, with a resolute hand, slay¬ 
ing his sloth, his pride, his avarice, his lust, his ma- 


E CT. XVII, 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


205 


lignity, before the altar of God ? Who among you 
is rising betimes to k< offer unto God thanksgiving 
to contemplate the glories of nature; to adore and ad¬ 
mire the wonders of providence : to look into the mys¬ 
tery of redemption, and to meditate with new and in¬ 
creasing delight on that love of Christ which passeth 
knowledge.” 

The little good which we do, we wish to be seen of 
all men : not like Abraham, who would have his devo¬ 
tion neither witnessed nor interrupted by any one. But 
glory pursues true goodness notwithstanding its own 
modesty and humility. Why should 1 suffer myself to 
be teazed and vexed with the cavils of an unbeliever ? 
Let him start ten thousand objections, if he will, to the 
frame of nature, the conduct of Providence, or the me¬ 
thod of salvation. I will thus simply reply : Do you 
comprehend the whole Are you of the privy council 
of heaven ? Can you account for any thing you behold? 
Do you know to what all these things tend, and in what 
they are to issue ? 

Rest, Christians, in general, obvious, useful, practical 
truth ; and know that devotedness to God is the essence 
of religion, and the sum of human happiness. Look 
forward to that day when light shall arise out of obscu¬ 
rity, when all mysteries shall be unveiled ; when the 
faculties of the human mind shall be strengthened and 
increased, and the objects contemplated shall be brought 
nearer the eye, placed in a fairer point of view, and irra¬ 
diated with a fuller glory ; when God shall in the most 
complete and satifactory manner vindicate his w'ays 
to men. 

The next Lecture will conclude the history of Abra¬ 
ham, and the proposed course for this season. If to 
your former attendance and kind attention, you will 
indulge me with one audience more, it will increase the 
affectionate regard of a grateful heart, and afford an 
opportunity of expressing that gratitude at greater 
length. May God bless all the means of knowledge, 
of piety, and of improvement. Amen. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECTURE XVIII. 

These all died in faith, not having received the promises', 
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of 
them and embraced them , and coufessed that they were 
strangers and pilgrims on the earth . For they that 
say such things declare plainly that they seek a coun¬ 
try. And truly if they had been mindful of that 
country from whence they came out , they might have 
had opportunity to have returned: but now they de¬ 
sire a better country , that is, a heaveidy : wherefore 
God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath 
prepared for them a city —Heb. xi. 13, 14, 15, 16. 

W HAT is the amount of human life ? Vanity and 
vexation of spirit. All our wanderings tend towards 
the grave. The anxieties and solicitude, the hopes 
and fears, the disappointments and successes which 
alternately occupy and agitate the mind, at length 
come to one issue, and all-conquering death settles 
the account. The time is at length come that Sarah 
must pay the debt of nature. That beauty which 
conjugal affection doated on, and which princes co¬ 
veted, becomes deformed with wrinkles; the cold 
hand of death chills the fond maternal heart, and even 
the delight of an Isaac is enjoyed no more. The Jew¬ 
ish Rabbins, fruitful in legends, affirm, that grief for the 
sacrifice for Isaac shortened her life. For that the 
devil who had exulted in the prospect of seeing Isaac 
perish by the knife of his father, to revenge himself for 




LECT. XVIII. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


205 


the disappointment which he felt upon his deliverance 
by the angel, conveyed intelligence to Sarah that the 
sacrifice was actually performed ; which news speedily 
proved fatal to her. As if the oppressive weight of 
one hundred and twenty-seven years did not suffi¬ 
ciently account for the death of a frail woman, without 
the necessity of a preternatural interposition. 

Affecting change ! The eyes of Abraham himself 
cannot now endure to look upon her, whom once he 
shuddered to think that the eyes of another should be¬ 
hold with too much desire ; and he is now as eager to 
bury her out of his sight, as he formerly was to retain 
the possession of her wholly to himself. Let the beau¬ 
tiful and the vain, the gay, the admired, and the flat¬ 
tered think of this and be humbled. The latter end 
of her life, however, is better than the beginning. Tor¬ 
mented with the unaccomplished desire of having chil¬ 
dren, subjected to all the hardships of a pilgrimage 
state, and stung with the keen pangs of jealousy, almost 
up to her ninetieth year, life at length subsides into a 
delightful calm of thirty-seven years more, cheered and 
cherished by the unabated affection of her beloved 
Lord, and blessed with the progress and accomplish¬ 
ments of the son of her womb, Isaac, the favorite of 
God and man. But she must finally make one remove 
more ; not to that country from which she came out, 
but to that land “ from whose bourne no traveller re¬ 
turns.” A partaker as of the fortunes, so of the faith 
of Abraham, she sees the promises afar off, is persua¬ 
ded of them and embraces them; desires and looks for 
another country, that is, a heavenly. 

God had promised to Abraham and his seed the pos¬ 
session of Canaan, and lo, it commences in the purchase 
at their full value, of a little field and a cave, for a bury¬ 
ing place. He had been threatened with a severe 
stroke in the demanded sacrifice of Isaac, he is made 
to feel one in the loss of Sarah. The mellowed friend¬ 
ship of so many years, and union cemented at last by 


206 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT. XVIII. 


so dear a pledge, could not be dissolved without pain. 
Abraham is sensible of his loss, and bewails it. His 
religion is not of that sort which values itself on doing 
violence to nature ; he knows nothing of that vain phi¬ 
losophy which affects to deny what it feels : neither has 
an old age of one hundred and thirty-seven years extin¬ 
guished in the heart those tender emotions, which the 
deprivation of an object, once fair, and ever dear, natu¬ 
rally excites. He who does not weep on such an oc¬ 
casion as this, is something more or less than a man. 
But to persevere in bewailing the dead, to the neglect 
of our duty to the living, is both folly and impiety. 
Abraham’s sorrow encroaches upon none of the valua¬ 
ble principles of a good mind. His whole conduct in 
the purchase of the field of Ephron the Hittite, and the 
cave of Machpelah, exhibits a soul replete with the most 
amiable and respectable virtues. Tender and affec¬ 
tionate, he is desirous of honouring in death the remains 
of what he prized in life. Noble-minded, generous, 
and independant, he refuses to shew respect to the me¬ 
mory of Sarah with that which cost him nothing. Civil 
and polite, he repays the, courtesy of his neighbours with 
affability and condescension. Scrupulously just and 
honest, he will give nothing less than the full price, and 
in full tale, weight, and purity, for what was frankly 
tendered him as a gift. The dialogue of the twen¬ 
ty-third chapter is a masterly picture of the beautiful 
simplicity of ancient manners, and exhibits a strife of 
unaffected kindness, good-nature, and civility, which 
at once pleases and instructs. Let me beseech you to 
peruse it carefully when opportunity offers. Would to 
God such contentions were more frequent in the 
world. The purchase is made, the price is paid, pos¬ 
session is made sure, and then was Sarah buried. And 
thus, first, Abraham became siezed of the land of pro¬ 
mise. So differently does Providence shape events 
from our preconception of them. 


LECT. XVIII. 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


207 


It is worthy of observation, that this is the first mo¬ 
ney transaction which we read of in the world. Till 
then, and long after, both among the posterity of 
Abraham and other nations, wealth was estimated by 
the number and quality of cattle; and cattle were the 
principal instruments of commerce. Thus we read in 
many places of Homer, of a coat of mail worth a hun¬ 
dred oxen ; a caldron worth twenty sheep ; a cup or 
goblet worth twelve lambs ; and the like. The words 
belonging to commerce or exchange of commodities, in 
the Greek language, are mostly derived from the names 
of certain animals, by means of which that exchange 
was originally carried on. Thus the word itself which 
signifies to truck ox commute one kind of goods for an¬ 
other, is derived from that which signifies a lamb ; * 
the verb which is translated to sell , comes from the 
noun, which translated signifies a colt or young horse ; f 
the Greek word, which in our language is to buy , comes 
from that which signifies an ass : f the term that de¬ 
notes rent or revenue , and that which signifies a sheep , 
are of kindred composition and import. || A criminal, 
according to the magnitude of his guilt, was condemn¬ 
ed to pay a fine of four, twelve, or a hundred oxen. ** • 
A wealthy person is called a man of many lambs, f f 
Two rival brothers are represented in Hesiod, as fight¬ 
ing with each other about the sheep of their Father ; 
that is, contending who should be his heir. But even 
so early as the time of Abraham, we find silver employ¬ 
ed as a more commodious mean of traffic ; and the 
concurrence of all civilized and comercial nations to 
this day, in employing the precious metals for this pur¬ 
pose, is a proof how early men learned the wisdom of 
this world ; and discovers to us how readily they 
invent, how accurately they reason, and how prudently 

* ctpvvrQxt from etptog. t vaXen from nt»Xog. \ auerOctt from ovog. 

|| npoG/xctng and Upo^ccrov. ** Ttpctipcx TerirccpetvotoVy $'t»$'sKX l ootoi i skx- 
touGoiov. ft voXvup^cg. 


203 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


LECT. XVIII. 


they act, in matters that are conducive to their tem¬ 
poral interest and advantage. But to return, 

By the death of Sarah, the care and anxiety abated, 
the dear object of their common affections becomes na¬ 
turally much increased to the surviving parent. Isaac 
was now arrive d at man’s estate, and it is fit that the 
heir of the promise should be established in a family 
of his own. For how are the promises of God brought 
into effect, but by the intervention of the means which 
nature and providence have appointed ? Abraham, 
with the solicitude of a good father, is desirous of match¬ 
ing his son, rather prudently and piously, than nobly 
or wealthily. In these days of simplicity and nature, 
the partner for life was sought after, not for the large¬ 
ness of her possessions ; but gold, and silver, and jew¬ 
els, were employed to court beauty and virtue to their 
proper sphere ot importance and usefulness in life.— 
Abraham judges it unwise to marry his son into a Hit- 
tite family, because they had deviated from the worship 
of the true God. He could esteem their hospitality, 
kindness and civility, as they deserved without falling 
in love with their religion. And he who cannot make 
this distinction must either be unfaithful to God, or un¬ 
friendly to man. Affecting view of the corruption and 
degeneracy of human nature ! that Isaac the son of 
faithful Abraham, should be deemed in greater danger 
of being perverted by an idolatrous wife, than that a 
woman of Canaan should be converted to the worship 
of the living of the true God, by a believing husband. 

Isaac, it would appear devoted to retirement and 
contemplation, little attached himself to the concerns 
of this life; the management of his affairs and his set¬ 
tlement in the world, he leaves to the wisdom of his 
father, and the fidelity of ancient domestic. The 
journey of that servant into Mesopotamia, and the suc¬ 
cess of it belong more properly to the history of Isaac. 
As far as Abraham is concerned in it, we behold a holy 
man acknowledging God in all his ways, and making 


LECT. XVIII. HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


20 $ 


the ordinary concerns of life a religious service : and 
we see God, in return, directing every step to a happy 
issue. 

Having seen his beloved son settled entirely to his 
satisfaction, he enters again himself into the honourable 
state of marriage, and is blessed in it by a progeny of 
six sons and ten grand-children born in his life-time. 
In order to prevent strife after his death, as far as hu¬ 
man sagacity and foresight could do it, and knowing 
that property is the great source of contention among 
men, he settles his worldly affairs, bequeathing the 
great bulk of his fortune to Isaac, the son of his first 
and principal wife ; following in this the destination of 
Providence, and fulfilling the condition of the covenant 
under which Rebekah was induced to become Isaac’s 
wife. He makes a suitable provision for the younger 
branches of his family, and sends them, by dint of his 
paternal authority, into a distant part of the country, 
while he yet lived, that the quiet and peaceable temper 
of Isaac might not be exposed to disturbance and 
trouble, from the neighbourhood of ambitious, violent, 
or avaricious brothers, after his death. 

That fatal period at length overtakes him also, and 
he comes to the grave, “ like as a shock of corn co- 
meth in his season,” in a good old age, “ an old man, 
and full of years,” at the age of one hundred three¬ 
score and fifteen. A life shorter by far than any we 
have hitherto studied, but much fuller of incidents and 
events. A life chequered with uncommon trials, and 
blessings as extraordinary. A life distinguished by the 
most brilliant virtues which adorn human nature, but 
not wholly exempted from its frailties and infirmities. 
Abraham purchased a grave for Sarah. Alas ! he was 
only providing a habitation for himself! How short, 
how unimportant the distance between the funeral 
rites which we prepare, and those which are prepa¬ 
red for us! 

Vol. I. 2D 


210 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT.XVIII. 


But can this be all that God intended to bestow 
upon our patriarch by promises so lofty, conveyed in 
language so solemn ? Was it for this he was called to 
leave his country and his father’s house ? Did vision 
upon vision, covenant upon covenant, promise upon 
promise, conduct only to a little cave in Hebron ? Was 
the favour of the almighty, the all-bountiful Jehovah, 
expressed to the man whom he dignified by the title of 
his friend, only by such things as are the common gifts of 
his providence to all, and which are often bestowed 
on the vilest and most worthless of mankind ? If the 
grave were to terminate the existence of man, such 
questions would be indeed of difficult solution. But 
the difficulty of them scatters and disperses before one 
word of God, spoken three hundred and thirty years af¬ 
ter the patriarch’s death, even to Moses at the bush in 
Horeb. I am the God of Abraham. His relation to 
God was as entire three centuries after his body was 
consumed in dust in Machpelah, as when he was en¬ 
tertaining angels at Mamre, or sacrificing upon Mount 
Moriah. “ God is not the God of the dead, but of the 
living.” To Him, and for Him, and with Him, now 
live the faithful of all past ages ; and precious is their 
very dust in his sight. Judge nothing then before the 
time, till the day come which shall unfold the purpose 
of Heaven, which shall clear up the mystery of provi¬ 
dence, and fully vindicate the ways of God to man. 

It appears that some intercourse between Ishmael 
and his father’s family had been kept up ; for we find 
him apprized of Abraham’s death, and assisting at his 
funeral. He must be a wild man indeed, not to have 
been tamed, at least into a temporary sorrow, by such 
an event, and melted into forgetfulness of ail past 
resentments, by the death of a father. Providence 
wisely produces this good effect, by the common cala¬ 
mities wherewith families are visited ; they tend to 
reconcile the alienated, they extinguish bitterness and 


LECT. XVIII. HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. fll 

strife, they re-kindle the dying embers of filial duty 
and brotherly love. Isaac and Ishmael, men of differ¬ 
ent natures, of opposite interests rivals from the womb, 
forget all animosity, and mingle tears over a father’s 
tomb. 

It remains, in comformity to our plan, that we point 
out, in a few particulars, the resemblance betwixt 
Abraham and Christ, that we may see wherein the 
former typified the latter. 

Abraham, at God’s command, leaving his country, 
and his father’s house, points to us obviously, Jesus, at 
the fulness of time, leaving heaven’s glory and the bo¬ 
som of the Father, and coming into our world and 
living a pilgrim and a stranger in it. Abraham, in a 
land which was his own by the gift and promise of 
God, nevertheless obtained no fixed residence in it, but 
wandered about from place to place ; Jesus, in a world 
which he made and upholds, which is his by the most 
undeniable title, was without a place where to lay his 
head. Abraham was called the friend of God, and to 
him God communicated his purposes of mercy and of 
judgment; Jesus, the only begotten Son, who is in the 
bosom of the Father, and knows intimately the mind 
of the Lord, he hath declared him. With Abraham 
God established the political covenants which secured 
to him and his family the possession of Canaan, and all 
the temporal and spiritual blessings of a transitory and 
preparatory economy ; Jesus is the Mediator of a bet¬ 
ter covenant, established upon better promises; even 
the covenant of redemption, whereby the kingdom of 
heaven, and eternal life, are made sure to all his spirit¬ 
ual seed ; for thus it is written of him, “ I have made a 
covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David 
my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever, and build 
up thy throne to all generations and “ according to 
his abundant mercy he hath begotten us again unto a 
lively hope, by a resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and 


212 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT.XVIII. 


that fadeth not away.” In Abraham we venerate the 
natural head of a great family, raised up, multiplied, 
preserved, and extinguished by the hand of Providence 
to this day. Of Christ, “ the whole family of heaven,” 
and all the families of the earth “ are named,” “ and 
he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” 
Abraham stands forth the typifical representative, fa¬ 
ther, and pattern of believers ; “ Christ is the “ head 
of the body, the church,” the real source of a spiritual 
and divine life to all them who believe. 

Abraham’s intercession in behalf of Sodom, and 
Christ’s lamentation over Jerusalem, are a beautiful and 
striking counterpart to each other. The sacrifices 
which Abraham and Christ respectively offered up 
unto God, wonderfully illustrate and explain one 
another. 

But in the midst of so many marks of resemblance, 
who does not by a glance discern as many characters 
of dissimilitude ; and an infinite superiority claimed 
by Him who “ in all things must have the pre-emi¬ 
nence ?” Who shall declare his generation, who saith 
of himself, “ before Abraham was, I am ?” Abraham 
was a man of like passions with us, and even the father 
of the faithful stumbled and fell; Jesus was “ holy, 
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners,” and 
the prince of this world himself, when he came, found 
nothing in him. Abraham was ready to offer up 
Isaac ; Christ actually offered himself “ a sacrifice of 
a sweet smelling savour unto God.” The faith of 
Abraham could not redeem him from death; the 
power of Christ triumphed over the grave. The first 
covenants, being of a temporary nature, having fulfilled 
their design, are passed away. The New Testa¬ 
ment in tile blood of Christ being for everlasting, 
continues in full force, and shall last while sun and 
moon endure, nay, when “ all these things shall be 
dissolved.” 


LECT. XVIII. HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


213 


Being arrived at one of the great epochs in the his¬ 
tory of the world, we shall just for a moment look 
back, and mark the link which connected this period 
with the flood, and even with the antediluvian world; 
giving you only names and dates for the sake of bre¬ 
vity. Skem, the second son of Noah, and father of 
Arphaxad and of all the children of Heber, to whom 
the family jewel, that is, the promise of the Messiah, 
was committed, who saw two of the great calamities of 
the world and outlived them, the deluge, and the con¬ 
fusion of languages, and who lived no doubt to see and 
rejoice in Abraham and Isaac as the heirs of the pro¬ 
mise ; Shem, I say, is the great link of these two eras 
of the world. For, he lived before the flood ninety- 
eight years, and after it five hundred and two; of con¬ 
sequence he died only twenty-five years before Abra¬ 
ham. His life accordingly may be calculated thus, 
with regard to the great persons and events with which 
he was connected. Before the flood he lived ninety- 
eight years. After the birth of his own son Arphaxad 
five hundred. After the death of Arphaxad sixty one. 
After the death of Noah one hundred and fifty-two. 
After the confusion of tongues three hundred and forty- 
eight. After the death of Sarah thirteen. Before the 
birth of Jacob ten. Before the birth of Moses two 
hundred and seventy-five. When Abraham was one 
hundred and fifty years old, Isaac fifty, and before the 
descent into Egypt one hundred and forty. The chro¬ 
nology of Abraham’s life, according to the scripture 
account, stands thus. He died in the one hundred and 
seventy-fifth year of his age, and of the world two 
thousand one hundred and eighty-three. Before the 
birth of Christ one thousand eight hundred and twen¬ 
ty-one. After he discomfited and slew Chedelaomer 
and the other kings ninety-one. After the intended 
sacrifice of Isaac fifty. After the death of Sarah thirty- 
eight. After his marriage with Keturah thirty-five. 
After die death of Shem twenty-five. Before the de- 


214 


HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. LECT. XVIII. 


scent into Egypt one hundred and fifteen. When 
Isaac was seventy-five years old ; Esau and Jacob fif¬ 
teen ; Ishmael eighty-nine, and Heber his great grand¬ 
father, from whom the name of Hebrew comes, four 
hundred and sixty. “ By faith he sojourned in the 
land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in 
tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the 
same promise,” and when he gave up the ghost, was 
buried in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, by 
his sons Isaac and Ishmael. 

And thus, my dear friends, we have, through the 
help of God, finished the fir; t part of the plan of these 
Lectures. And the season of interruption and separa¬ 
tion being now come, permit me, with a heart over¬ 
flowing with affection and gratitude, to return you my 
sincere thanks, for your regular attendance and patient 
attention. You w^ere invited hither with much humili¬ 
ty and diffidence; you have come hither with much 
alacrity and steadiness, and you must not depart 
hence, without bearing along with you the grateful 
acknowledgments of the Lecturer. He has the con¬ 
solation of believing, that as neither he, nor his under¬ 
taking, are the creatures of party, or of human system, 
nor aim at any interests but those of virtue, good 
sense, and religion ; so they have been encouraged by 
wise snd good men of various sects and denominations. 
He humbly hopes he has interfered with the happiness, 
fame, or usefulness of no good man whatever. If he 
has led any one to read the bible more carefully, to 
trace the connection betwixt the Old and New Testa¬ 
ment characters, institutions, and events, more accu¬ 
rately ; to trace the ways of Providence more closely ; 
or to feel the powers of a world to come sensibly, verily 
he has his reward. 

But he affects not fastidiously to undervalue some 
considerations of inferiour importance ; he dwells with 
secret delight on the disinterested attachment and ge¬ 
nerous services of his private friends : his heart glows 


LECT. XVIII. HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 


215 


at the public marks of regard he has received; and the 
temporal emolument arising from his labours he re¬ 
ceives with much thankfulness to you, and to that kind 
Providence, which is pleased to smile upon another 
effort to rear up a numerous family. May the kindness 
you have shewn the preacher return a thousand fold 
upon your own heads. The God of love be with you 
all. Amen. 


END OF THE FIRST COURSE OF LECTURES,, 





X 



saqnbbid ©acDcmiiiPiiifo 


BY HENRY HUNTER, D. D. 


SECOND COURSE OF LECTURES. 




2E 











SACRED BIOGRAPHY. 


LECTURE I. 

Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do 
they live for ever? But my words and my statutes, 
which I commanded my servants the prophets , did 
they not take hold of your fathers ? And they return¬ 
ed and said , Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do 
unto us, according to our ways, and according to our 
doings, so he hath dealt with us. —Zech. i. 5, 6. 

Reflections upon the shortness of human life, 

and the uncertainty of sublunary enjoyments, natural¬ 
ly present themselves, in the various changes which 
we daily observe, and daily feel But alas, our reflec¬ 
tions are too superficial and transitory/ to produce ha¬ 
bitual superiority to the world, uniform submission to 
the will of God, and efficacious impressions of eternity. 
Wasting and decaying every hour, we form and pro¬ 
secute schemes for futurity, as if “ our strength were 
the strength of stones, and our bones brass.” Reasoning 
and reflecting as men, we live and act as children; and 
pufsfie*the bauble of the moment, as if it were “ the 
pearl of great price.” When the drama of human life 




220 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


LECT. I. 


is ended, and the curtain drops, lo, it has shrunk to a 
mesasure^so small, and contains events of so little im¬ 
portance, that it is difficult to render a reason why man 
should have existed at all: and we are constrained to 
cry out with the Psalmist, u Verily, every man at his 
best state is altogether vanity; surely every man walk- 
eth in a vain shew; surely they are disquieted in vain.” 
Psalm xxxix. 6, 7. 

But my text greatly relieves this apparent insignifi¬ 
cancy of our fleeting existence in this world, by con¬ 
veying to us this important idea, that the Divine Pro¬ 
vidence is carrying on its great and wise designs, by 
feeble, short-lived, and even worthless instruments. 
And the date of our latter end is wisely and mercifully 
hid from our eyes ; and every man is taught to consi¬ 
der himself, his life, his actions, as of importance, that 
we may exert ourselves to the last, and “ do with our 
might whatsoever our hands findeth to do.” Though 
our fathers are no more, and the prophets do not live 
for . eve?\ yet the words and statutes which God com¬ 
manded his servants the prophets, “ took hold of our 
fathers, and they returned and said, Like as the Lord 
of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways 
and according to our doings, so he hath dealt with us.” 
This leads us, in a direct road, to make a just estimate 
of the lives and actions of other men; and to consider 
seriously how we ought to order our own conversation, 
how we ought to spend our own days and years. 

In the preceding Course of these Lectures, we en¬ 
deavoured, beginning at Adam, and ending with Abra¬ 
ham, historically to delineate, and practically to im¬ 
prove, the Jives of those venerable men, by whom the 
world was first peopled, instructed, and governed: and 
who, in their persons, by their actions, or the events 
which befel them, successively typified, or foretold to 
their contemporaries, the great Saviour and Deliverer 
of the human race, during a period of more than two 
thousand years. By entering into the spirit of the 


LECT. I. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 221 

a, 

prophet Zechariah, in the words now read, we$*hall be 
enabled to review that period with profit andaelight. 
And this review shall serve to introduce the history of 
the other lives, which the sacred volumfc, in succession, 
presents to our observation, and has sketched for our 
information and improvement. 

In Adam, we behold at once our natural first father, 
and our federal head : from whom, as man, our exist¬ 
ence is derived, and by whose conduct our character 
has been deeply affected, and our state in some res¬ 
pect determined. “ Our father Adam , where is he ?” 
He fulfilled his day, he accomplished the purposes of 
the eternal mind, he then fell asleep, and is now seen 
no more. But however remote the date of his for¬ 
mation, and of his death ; however distant from us the 
reign in which he lived ; however apparently uncon¬ 
nected with us in interest, in fame, or fortune, we are, 
we know, we feel ourselves deeply involved in what 
he was, in what he did. In Adam, we all died ; we all 
forfeited a natural, and lost a spiritual and divine life : 
and, in Adam, we receive the promises which have 
since been fulfilled and to him first were opened pros¬ 
pects, which the course of providence has realized, even 
the restoration of our fallen nature, by one “ greater 
man,” who has regained for us seats more blissful than 
those from which by transgression he fell; namely, the 
“ seed of the women, who has bruised the serpent’s 
head.” Our first father, where is he ? Lost indeed to 
us, but not to God. All traces of him, excepting those 
only which perpetuate the memory of his guilt and its 
woful consequences, are effaced and forgotten ; but his 
station before God remains unchanged, his importance 
undiminished. Dead to us, he lives to him, with 
whom “a thousand years are as one day, and one day 
as a thousand years.” 

Can we meditate upon the first man who was created 
upon the earth, without rising in our thoughts to Him 
who created him out of the dust of the ground, and 


222 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. I. 

“ breath^ into his nostrils the breath of life ? And who 
has of one blood formed all nations of men to inhabit 
upon the face of the whole earth.” Can we think of 
our father after! the flesh ; and not connect with him 
the idea of our Father who is in heaven ? Is not the 
painful recollection of him in whom all died , happily 
relieved and done away by reflecting on the glorious 
second Adam, in whom an elect world is made alive ! 
And O, how is the loss of an earthly paradise compen¬ 
sated by the promise of “ new heavens and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness that paradise 
of God, in the midst of which grows the tree of life y 
always blossoming, always bearing fruit, and exempted 
from the dangerous neighbourhood of the tree of know - 
ledge of good and evil. 

Our brother Abel, where is he ? Cut off in the bloom 
of life ; fallen, fallen by the hand of a brother; but 
immortal by his faith and piety, qualities not liable to 
the stroke of death. “ By faith he offered to God ” • an 
excellent and an acceptable sacrafice. In presenting 
the firstlings of his flock, he had a respect to the great 
Lamb of atonement, and thereby, “ being dead he yet 
speaketh.” Prematurely taken away, but not for a 
crime ; a victim to malice and envy, he typified, 

“ Messiah, the Prince, cut off, but not for himself,’^ 
crucified and slain in the prime of life, by the impious g 
hands of his nearest kindred. And, living under the 
influence of the same principle, we too shall become 
immortal, shall “ ending as seeing Him who is invisi¬ 
ble, and present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac¬ 
ceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service,” 
Rom. xii. 1. 

In the life, and more particularly in the exit of the 
patriarch Enoch, life and immortality were more clearly 
brought to light. Hitherto, men had terminated their 
earthly course by descending into the grave and see¬ 
ing corruption. But, when we come to inquire con¬ 
cerning Enoch, “where is he ?” The scriptures reply, 


LECT. I. 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


223 


“ By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not 
see death; and was not found, because God had trans¬ 
lated him : for before his translation he had this testi¬ 
mony that he pleased God,” Heb. xi. 5. “He was not, 
for God took him.” Our thoughts here settle, not on 
the gloomy mansions of the dead, “ the house appoint¬ 
ed for all living,” but on the regions of eternal day, 
irradiated with the glory, and beatified with the pre¬ 
sence of God. We rise in faith and hope to that 
bright world from which Christ descended, *3hd to 
which having finished his work, and achieved his vic¬ 
tory, he afterwards re-ascended, leading captivity cap¬ 
tive. And all who are partakers of the same precious 
faith contemplate with joy that same mansion of ever¬ 
lasting rest, “ prepared for them from the foundation 
of the world,” and “ ready to be revealed in the last 
time,” when the body shall be redeemed from the 
power of the grave and. the Saviour, lifted up on high, 
shall “draw all men unto him.” In ILnoch “walking 
with God,” and passing immediately, soul and body, 
from earth to heaven, the world that then was, saw, in 
a figure, Him that was to come, whose meat and 
drink it was to do the will of his heavenly Father, and 
who has opened a passage, through the very gates of 
death, into the heavenly world, and that not for him¬ 
self only, but for all who believe on his name, and who 
love his appearing. Enoch, our father, where is he ? 
There, O my soul! there, O my Christian friend, where, 
through the grace that is in Christ Jesus, vve have ever¬ 
lasting consolation, in the good hope of arriving also. 
“ O death, where is thy sting ! O grave where is thy 
victory ! Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord,” I Cor. xv. 55, 57. 

Advancing to the times of Noah, we behold the 
world first deluged with an overflowing flood of sin, 
and then with an inundation of waters. The measure 
of human iniquity full, and the vials of divine wrath 
filled, in order to punish it, up to tire brim, and poured 


224 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. I. 


out upon an impious generation, to its utter extinction 
and ruin. Nevertheless, a remnant is saved, and mer¬ 
cy rejoices in the midst of judgment. Animated 
by the same principle which inspired his venerable an¬ 
cestors, that principle which gave value to Abel’s sacri¬ 
fice, which strengthened Enoch to walk with God, and 
through which he was translated without tasting death, 
Noah “ prepared an ark for the saving of his house.” 
The history, and method of redemption, by the Lord 
Jesu^Christ, are so clearly prefigured in every part of 
this wonderful event, that he who runs may read them. 
Noah, “ a just man, and perfect in his generations 
Noah, who “ walked with God,” and was “ a preacher 
of righteousness;” Noah, who, “ warned of God of 
things not seen as yet, and moved with fear, prepared 
an ark for the saving of his house,” is evidently in all 
these characters and actions, a type of the Holy and 
Just One , whom the world despised and rejected; a 
type of “ me only begotten Son who is in the bosom of 
the Father, and hath declared him” unto men; a type 
of the great “ teacher sent from God,” to warn a guilty 
devoted race to flee from the wrath to come, and to 
conduct them to a place of safety; a type of him who, 
chosen of God, and moved by pity and affection, pre¬ 
pared a present refuge, and an everlasting habitation, 
for perishing sinners. Of Noah, his pious prophetic 
father, when he imposed his name, exultingly exclaim¬ 
ed, “ This same shall comfort us concerning our work 
and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the 
Lord hath cursed,” Gen. v. 29—and, in the blessed 
Redeemer of mankind, all his pious, believing children, 
enjoy the prospect of a period, and a world, wherein 
“ there shall be no moi£ curse ;” and on whom the 
eternal Father, by the tongue of an angel, imposed the 
name of Jesus because he should “ save his people from 
their sins.” Noah, our father, where is he ? where is 
the man who was Enoch’s contemporary, who convers¬ 
ed with the sages of the old world, who saw the globe 


LECT. I. 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


225 


one vast ocean, whom all the waters of a deluge could 
not drown, who received a grant of the whole renewed 
earth for an inheritance ? All these successive changes 
led but to the grave, and we see him no more. “ All 
the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, 
and he died.” Let the possessor of a continent think 
of this, and check his pride. Let florid, vigorous youth 
think of three-score years and ten. Let him, who is 
rearing a mansion of one thousand feet by five hun¬ 
dred, meditate on one of six by two, and learn to die. 

The ark which Noah prepared for the* saving of his 
house, where is it? It fulfilled its destination, it escap¬ 
ed the wreck of worlds, it preserved, and rendered up, 
its precious deposit, then fell into decay. It exists but 
in description, it has no form but what fancy has bes¬ 
towed upon it in a picture, or upon a coin. But its 
fame, its use, its end, its antitype are immortal. That 
magnificent vessel, not the contrivance of man, but the 
appointment of God; constructed according to the 
pattern, formed and •prescribed by infinite wisdom ; 
preserved, in the wild uproar of conflicting elements ; 
by the almighty power of God;—resting at length on 
solid ground, and unloading its precious treasure, 
without the loss of a single life—are so many succes¬ 
sive, distinct, pleasing, and instructive views of the 
plan formed, followed, and, in due time, perfected, of 
man’s deliverance from sin, and death, and hell, by the 
Lord Jesus Christ; who thus speaks of his redeemed, 
and of himself, in his last solemn address to his Hea¬ 
venly Father, “ While I was with them in the world, I 
kept them in thy name : those that thou gavest me, I 
have kept, and none of them is lost,” John xvii. 12— 
and in another place, “ I give unto them eternal life, and 
they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them 
out of my hand. My father which gave them me is 
greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out 
of my Father’s hand,” John x. 28, 29. 

Vol. I. 2 F 


226 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


LECT. I. 


The emblems of the raven, the dove, the rainbow, the 
altar, the sacrifice, and others which enter into the his¬ 
tory of this patriarch, are beautiful and significant illus¬ 
trations of the same interesting, all-important subject. 
And the whole taken together, satisfactorily demon¬ 
strate, that if “ death reigned from Adam to Noah,” 
and the “ offence abounded,” yet “ grace did much 
more abound and that out of the ruins of human 
apostacy,.gbiilt, and misery, the hand of Heaven was 
gradualh/zeaying that glorious fabric of salvation which, 
when completed, an enraptured universe shall contem¬ 
plate with astonishment and delight. “ This is the 
day which the Lord hath made : this is the Lord’s do¬ 
ing ; it is marvellous in our eyes.” The sight of the 
world restored, renewed and blessed to Noah, the 
second father of the human race, leads us forward, 
borne on the wings of promise, to the slill more mag¬ 
nificent prospect of the restitution of all things to 
the day, when he Who sitte&Hn/omthe throne shall say, 
“ Behold, I make all thing^^V’ when, according to 
his word, a new, more spicfidfd^nd more durable sys¬ 
tem of the universe shall arise, under the plastic, puri¬ 
fying hand of the great Author and Finisher of the 
Christian faith, from the wreck of worlds consumed by 
fire; when Jesus shall bring all his ransomed ones to 
Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; 
when sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” 

Sailing down the current of sacred history, the plains 
of Mesopotamia and Ur of the Chaldees appear in 
sight; and we behold an illustrious exile and his family 
on their way from their country, kindred, and father’s 
house, like the first pair expelled from Eden, 

.All the world before them, were to choose 

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. 

We behold Abram, at God’s command, going out, 
“ not knowing whither he wentAbram, the res¬ 
pected father of all them that believe, raised up of 
Providence, in the same important view, to carry on 



LECT. I. 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


227 


the same grand design. In the declarations which were 
made to him, we behold the plan of redemption assum¬ 
ing a clearer and more distinct form ; unfolding its na¬ 
ture, and arranging its several parts. The glorious 
person who was promised to Adam, immediately upon 
the fall, under the more obscure description of the 
“ seed of the woman,” who should “ bruise the head 
of the serpent,” was now announced to the world, as 
“ the seed of Abram,” in whom “ all the families of 
the earth should be blessed.” And, henceforward, we 
have prediction upon prediction, ordinance upon ordi¬ 
nance, promise upon promise, event upon event, lead¬ 
ing to, rising above, improving, enlarging upon one an¬ 
other, like the light of the ascending sun, gradually 
increasing from the early dawn to the perfect day. 
We observ types, shadows, ceremonies, sacrifices, dis¬ 
appearing by little and little; patriarchs, priests, pro¬ 
phets, lawgivers, and kings, retiring one after another, 
and giving place to “ the Lord, our Judge, our Law¬ 
giver, our King, to save us as the twinkling fires of 
the night hide their diminished heads, and the vapours 
disperse before the glorious orb of day. 

But, Abraham our father, whither is he also gone ? 
Even the faith which surrendered an Isaac at God’s 
command, and which has for ever preserved his name 
from death, could not rescue his body from the power 
of the grave. It sleeps, and is dissolved in the cave 
which was purchased from Ephron the Hittite. He had 
not a principle of life in himself, nor the power of com¬ 
municating it, to either his natural or spiritual poste¬ 
rity. But “ the words and the statutes, which God 
commanded him and his other servants the prophets, 
took hold of them,” and continue to lay hold of us. In 
the midst of all this mortality and change, one thing is 
immutable and eternal, the word, the purpose, the de¬ 
cree of the Most High. “ Heaven and earth may 
pass away, but it shall not pass away.” Our father 
Abraham, where is he ? Behold him in yonder world 


228 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


LECT. I. 


of bliss, with “ Lazarus in his bosom,” resting from all 
his own troubles ; and cherished the poor, the outcast, 
the afflicted, the tormented ; enjoying “ the end of his 
faith, the salvation of his soul,” and waiting for the 
adoption, to wit, the redemption of his body be¬ 
holding him face to face, whom once he beheld afar off, 
and as in a glass darkly. 

Who is this that breaks in upon us at once in meri¬ 
dian glory ? What bright day dazzles the wondering 
eye, preceded by no dawn, succeeded by no evening ? 
It is Melchizedec, that “ king of righteousness and 
peace,” that “ priest of the most high God,” whose 
generation none can declare, whose nature and person 
none is able to describe. Is he but as one of the pro¬ 
phets, or is he the Lord of the prophets himself, pro¬ 
nouncing the blessing which he alone can confer ; cele¬ 
brating in an early age that eucharist which should be 
the memorial of his office and glorious achievement, 
till time expire ? In him, whatever he were, a type, or 
the Son of God revealed ? a shadow, or the substance; 
in him we behold the great leading object of Providence 
disclosed to our views ; thai priesthood which is un¬ 
changeable, that kingdom which shall never be des¬ 
troyed, that Prince of peace, who has reconciled guilty 
men unto God, that righteousness through which we 
have access with humble confidence to the throne of 
grace. “ Abraham rejoiced to see that day.” It 
strengthened him to wait patiently for the promised 
seed ; it cheered his wanderings from place to place ; 
it fortified his heart to the sacrifice of his Isaac ; it laid 
his hoary head with hope in the dust.” 

—Having from this eminence surveyed the ground 
through which we have travelled ; a delightful land¬ 
scape, terminating in the distant hills of Eden, and 
watered by the fair river of promise, meandering 
through its whole vast extent—we look forward in 
hope and desire, to the happy plains where Isaac pitch¬ 
ed his tent, and Jacob fed his flocks; to the nations 


LECT. I. 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


229 


which Joseph saved by his wisdom, and ruled by his 
power. And, in our intended progress, eternal Spirit 
of wisdom ! vouchsafe thou to be our instructor and 
our guide ; point out to us the objects which deserve 
our notice : enlighten thou our eyes, guard our hearts, 
direct the paths of our feet. What we know not, that 
do thou teach us ; what we do know, help us wisely to 
improve. Following thee, “ the crooked shall become 
straight before us, and the rough places plain. The 
sun shall not smite us by day, nor the moon by night. 
We shall go from strength to strength,” after them 
who u inherit the promises, till every one of us also, in 
Zion, appeareth before God*” 

Have you ground of pride and joy, my friends, in 
the acknowledgment or recollection of your forefa¬ 
thers ? Were they wise and good; blessed in them¬ 
selves, and a blessing to the world? Take care that ye 
degenerate not from their virtues, that ye dishonour not 
their name, that ye swerve not from u the good old 
way” of piety, in which they trode. Is there in the 
line of your ancestry, any circumstance humiliating and 
painful ? Efface it, annihilate it; sink it, in a new exist¬ 
ence, derived from a celestial stock. Change the taint¬ 
ed, corrupted current of an earthly pedigree, for the 
adopted honours, the gratuitous inheritance, the enno¬ 
bled spirit of your Heavenly Father’s love. Strive to 
be the first of your race ; and leave to your heirs a pos¬ 
session infinitely better than the demesnes of princes, 
even the savour of a good name, a pattern worthy of 
imitation, the remembrance obqualities which are not 
subject to the stroke of death. 

You see, Christians, what is the leading the com¬ 
manding object, in the eye of eternal Providence. 
The salvation of a lost world by Jesus Christ. Adopt 
the same object, cleave unto it, keep it continually in 
view. All things else are vain and worthless ; for they 
are passing quickly away. Our interest in, our hold of 
the world is diminished every hour. Our consequence 


230 


INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 


LECT. I. 


as candidates for immortal bliss, as the heirs of glory, 
is rising in proportion. When we cease from import¬ 
ance, as the citizens of this world, our real importance 
begins to be felt and understood. I recommend not 
sullen distance from your fellow creatures, nor peevish 
discontent. Live in the world, associate with man¬ 
kind, enjoy your portion which God allotteth you. 
But u use the world so as not to abuse itand while 
you are cumbered about many things, never forget that 
one thing is needful; and make choice of that “ good 
part which shall not be taken away from you.” 

While we speak and hear, we change; and the hand 
of the executing angel hastens to number us with the 
dead. We are going to join the venerable men whose 
memory we revere, whose faith we profess to follow, 
whose virtues we are bound to copy. Yet a little 
while, and time shall be no more ; and we shall be con¬ 
temporary with our fathers who have preceded, and 
with our children who are to follow us, until the disso¬ 
lution of this system. We look back to Adam, the 
father of us all, and we look forward to his youngest 
son. We look up, and “ see Heaven opened, and Jesus 
standing on the right hand of God.” We look around 
and behold “ the nations of them that are saved” bend¬ 
ing before the throne. We hear the Saviour’s voice, 
“ Hear am I, and the children thou hast given me.” 
We hear the word of the Eternal Father pro¬ 
claiming aloud; and the myriads of an assembled uni¬ 
verse, angles and men, joyfully echo it back, “ All is 
good, yea, very good.’|i Amen. Hallelujah ! 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECTURE II. 


And it came to pass after the death of Abraham^ that 
God blessed his son Isaac : and Isaac dwelt by the 
wellLahai-roi — Gen. xxv. 11. 


Those scenes in human life which make the great¬ 
est figure in historv, are far from being the most bene¬ 
ficial to mankind; neither were the persons, whose 
names have been transmitted to us with the most re¬ 
nown, and whose actions have dazzled posterity with 
their lustre, either the happiest in themselves, or the 
greatest blessings to the age in which they lived. To 
make one man a hero, how many garments must have 
been died in blood ? And what are the acclamations 
of a triumph, but the miserable ec^o of the cries of the 
wounded, and the groans of the dying ? 

We are this night to trace the history of a man of 
peace : the history of one, who was not indeed exempt¬ 
ed from his share of the ills which flesh is heir to, but 
whose afflictions being private and domestic, were 
patiently borne by himself and disturbed not the re¬ 
pose of others; the history of one, who, by the ex¬ 
ample of his piety and virtues, did more to instruct and 
to bless mankind, than all the conquerors which ever 
existed, from Nimrod of Assyria, down to Frederic of 
Prussia. The life of Isaac, for seventy-five years of it, 
is blended with that of his illustrious father. For 
though upon the face of the narration, the birth of 
Esau and Jacob does not appear till considerably after 
the death of Abraham, yet, by comparing dates, we 




232 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. II. 


find, that the lads must have been fifteen years old 
when their grandfather died. And we may justly con¬ 
sider it as no slight trial of the faith both of the father 
and son, that Isaac, the heir of the promise, should 
live twenty years childless from his marriage with Re- 
bekah. But their patience of hope, their importunity 
of prayer, and heir confidence of faith, are at length 
rewarded by two sons at once. 

I mean not to recapitulate the extraordinary circum¬ 
stances of Isaac’s conception and birth, as they have 
already been considered in the history of Abraham. 
We shall only take up those particulars of his story 
which are more personal and peculiar ; in which, Isaac 
himself was either an agent or a sufferer. And, we 
find him at an early period indeed feeling distress and 
suffering persecution. The day he was weaned, how 
was the festivity of that joyful occasion embittered to 
his childish, innocent heart, by the cruel taunts and 
mockings of his brother lshmaei! It is remarkable 
that almost all. at least the severest trials, which this 
patriarch endured, arose from his nearest and dearest 
relations. Hated and scorned from the womb, by his 
brother; devoted in sacrifice, of his father; called 
early to mourn the loss of his affectionate mother ; af¬ 
flicted for twenty years with the barrenness of his only 
and beloved wife ; vexed, from their very conception, 
with the strife of his jealous sons, struggling for supe¬ 
riority ; mortified and grieved to the heart, with the in¬ 
considerate, unwise, idolatrous marriages of his favo¬ 
rite Esau; practised upon, and deceived in old age 
and blindness, by the address and cunning of his wife, 
and younger son ; involved in quarrel upon quarrel, 
with his powerful neighbours, through the rashness and 
contentiousness of his servants: never faulty, yet 
throughout unfortunate. Indeed, a man’s liableness to 
distress and disappointment is in exact proportion to 
the number and quality of the good things which he pos¬ 
sesses. Do we enjoy peculiar delights ? We are on 
the brink of danger. 


LECT.II. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


283 


At the partiality of Sarah to such a son as Isaac, we 
need not be at all surprised. It is pleasant to observe* 
however, that this partiality neither corrupted his un¬ 
derstanding nor his heart. Neither the indulgence 
which he met with, nor the prospects to which he was 
born and brought up, seem to have rendered him, on 
any occasion, insolent or assuming. And mateanal 
fondness met with its dearest best reward, in filial duty 
and tenderness. Sarah lived respected, and died la¬ 
mented, by her only and beloved son. 

In reviewing the sacrifice of Isaac, that I may not 
encroach on your time, I shall only make this remark, 
that this memorable transaction was not less a proof of 
the faith of Isaac, than of Abraham himself. As the 
obedience of the father was prompt and cheerful, so 
was that of the son. If the resignation of Abraham 
merits praise, the submission of Isaac claims no less ; 
for his consent must undoubtedly have been obtained. 
In both it was “ a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
God, and a reasonable service and the blessing pro¬ 
nounced from heaven on that occasion, applied to both 
equally, and in the same manner. 

The next important event of Isaac’s life upon the 
sacred record is his marriage. Swallowed up of sorrow 
for the loss of his mother, or absorbed in devout medita¬ 
tion, he leaves all concern about his future fortunes and 
establishment in the world to the care and wisdom of 
his father. And he thereby reproves the forwardness 
and self-sufficiency of our young men, who presume to 
think for themselves in every thing before they have 
learned to think at all; who attempt the works of men 
with the knowledge and the strength of children. In 
the various particulars of this transaction, we have a 
beautiful and interesting picture of the simplicity of 
ancient manners and customs. Is it not a custom 
rather ancient and obsolete, to see all parties piously 
acknowledging God, upon such an occasion as this ? 
Is it not rather uncommon, to see a prudent father, 
Vo*,. I. 2 G 


234 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. II- 


anxious to match his only son with virtue and religion* 
not with rank and affluence, to the endangering of his 
moral and religious principles ? With us, the most va¬ 
luable accomplishments, whether bodily or mental, go 
for nothing, unless set off with gold ; but Rebekah, 
without a dowry, was with jewels and gold courted to 
the arms of Isaac. Has the female heart alone in all 
ages been the same : perpetually accessible to the 
allurements of finery, presents, and praise? Where 
shall we now look for servants such as Abraham’s, at 
once affectionate to his master, faithful to his trust, and 
filled with reverence to his God ? This part of the his¬ 
tory is an excellent commentary upon that injunction 
of the wise man, “ In all thy ways acknowledge him, 
and he shall direct thy paths,” Prov. iii 6. Abraham’s 
servant has hardly finished his address to heaven, when 
lo. Providence, which works unseen, unknown, unob¬ 
served bv us, has brought the subject of his prayer al¬ 
ready to his eye. 

And in what place, in what employment is the des¬ 
tined bride of Isaac found ? Indolently reclined under 
a canopy of state, or issuing forth to breathe the even¬ 
ing air, accompanied by a numerous and splendid reti¬ 
nue of domestics ? No, my fair hearers, look at Rebe¬ 
kah, beautiful, and young, and high born, bearing her 
pitcher on her shoulder to the well, to draw the even¬ 
ing’s water for the family,—and learn, that the humble, 
yet useful employments of domestic life, are a virtuous 
women’s most honourable station ; that whether in vir¬ 
ginity, wedlock, or widowhood, God and nature have 
destined you to occupations, not perhaps highly honour¬ 
able in the eyes of unfeeling wealth, or giddy dissipa¬ 
tion, but highly consequential to the happiness of others, 
and therefore essential to your own. Look yet again 
to Rebekah, and learn affibility, and kindness, and 
condescension—learn at once to perform your duty, 
and to promote your interest. It suits the early bloom 
of life, it suits your sex, it is congenial to your natural 


LECT. II. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


235 


propensities, to be gentle, to be courteous; and, be¬ 
lieve me, it is equally conducive to your honour and ad¬ 
vantage. The obliging deportment of -Rebekah to the 
servant, paved the way to her advancement to the rank 
of his mistress. And can you think the dignity of 
Isaac’s future wife in the smallest degree impaired, by 
her civilities to his servants, or by her humanity to the 
poor dumb brutes which followed him ? Believe me, an 
insolent, unfeeling, uncomplying young woman is an 
odious, contemptible, unnatural,—a monstrous thing. 
Look at Rebekah yet once more, my beloved daugh¬ 
ters, and learn openness, frankness, sincerity. Was 
she deficient in virgin modesty, that most attractive of 
all female graces, if, when asked, “ wilt thou go with 
this man ?” she ingeniously replied, “ I will go.” No ; 
but the honest simplicity of nature was not then cor¬ 
rupted and disguised by modes of behaviour, the beg¬ 
garly refinement of modern education. Then, what 
the heart and conscience dared to avow, the cheek 
blushed not at hearing, the tongue scrupled not to 
utter. I cannot yet cease to speak of that sweet, that 
amiable creature. Mark again, I beseech you, as she 
approaches her destined lord, how female delicacy, how 
maiden diffidence and reserve, resume their empire! 
“ She alighted off the camel, she took a veil and cov¬ 
ered herself.” 

And where, and how was Isaac found of his fair 
spouse ? He had gone out “ to meditate, or to pray in 
the field at the even-tide.” This is the leading, pre¬ 
vailing lineament in the good man’s character : a heart 
turned to devotion, an eye continually directed to¬ 
wards heaven. Meditation and prayer are the proper 
improvement of all mercies past, and the best prepara¬ 
tive for mercies yet unexpected; a cordial balm for the 
woes which we already endure, and an infallible anti¬ 
dote to the poison of those evils which we have yet to 
fear. What is not to be hoped for, from a union built 
on such a foundation ? The fear and love of God on 


236 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. II. 


both sides; calmness, wisdom, fidelity, and affluence, 
on the part of the husband ; humility, decency, meek’ 
ness, frankness, and discretion, on the part of the wife ; 
a mutual desire of pleasing, and of being pleased. 

“ Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and 
took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved 
her : and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death,’ 1 
Gen. xxiv. 97. So wisely and so graciously hath God 
provided a suitable relief from every human calamity. 
And thus providence prepares us, in one form of the 
school of relative duty, for a higher and a higher still, 
till we have filled every station with some degree of 
comfort and credit. The transition from a dutiful 
and affectionate son, to a kind and indulgent husband, 
is natural and easy. And here, my young friends, you 
are furnished with a plain, but important rule, for form¬ 
ing the great choice of life. Is an udutiful child likely 
to make a good husband or wife ? Have I reason to ex¬ 
pect that one who has violated the first law of nature, 
of morality, of religion, will fall at once, and without 
preparation, into the more complicated and more diffi¬ 
cult duties of the conjugal state? 

But what lot of humanity is free from anxiety, free 
from disappointment, free from pain ? The heir of 
Abraham’s wealth ; but what signifies Abraham’s 
wealth ? The heir of the promise goes childless. Who 
is so foolish as to look for perfect happiness in a world 
of vanity, in a valley of tears? Those, to whom the 
blessing of children is denied, are fretful aud discon¬ 
tent* d ; and those on whom it is bestowed are in ter¬ 
ror, anxiety, and vexation every hour. Happily, 1 
hear of Rebekah’s suggesting no dangerous, no unwar- 
rentable expedient as a remedy for this sore evil ; and 
holy Isaac thinks of seeking relief there only, where he 
was accustomed to seek, and to find the cure of all his 
ills. “ Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because 
sho was barren : and the Lord was entreated ol him, 
and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children 


LECT. II. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


237 


struggled together within her; and she said, If it be 
so, why am I thus ? And she went to inquire of the 
Lord. And the Lord said unter her. Two nations are 
in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be sepa¬ 
rated from thy bowels: and the one people shall be 
stronger than the other people ; and the elder shall 
serve the other,” Gen. xxv. 21, 22, 23. He asked a 
child, and his prayer is answered by the gift of two sons. 
And thus Providence, often slower than our wishes and 
desires, frequently compensates that delay by greatly 
outdoing our requests and expectations. But lo again, 
how care and sorrow arise out of our greatest comforts! 
The children are hardly conceived when their strife be¬ 
gins ; and Isaac has as much reason to entreat the 
Lord, that his wife might be spared in the pangs of an 
unnatural labour, as he formerly had, that she might be 
delivered from the infelicity of barrenness. Indeed, 
“ who knoweth what is good for man in this life all the 
days of his vain life, which he spendeth as a shadow ?” 
But this we know, “ that all things work together for 
good to them that love God, to them who are the call¬ 
ed according to his purpose,” Rom. viii. 28, 

The strife which thus began in the womb, becomes 
visible at the birth, and continues through life : nay, is 
transmitted to posterity. The remark of the fanciful 
and ingenious bishop Hall on the passage is to this 
purpose : s Before Rebekah conceived, she was at ease : 
so before spiritual regeneration, all is peace in the soul: 
but no sooner is the new man formed in us, but the 
flesh conflicts with ihe spirit. There is no grace where 
there is no unquietness. Esau alone would not have 
striven ; for nature will ever agree with itself. Never 
any Rebekah conceived only an Esau, or was so happy 
as to conceive none but a Jacob : she must be ihe mo¬ 
ther of both, that she may have both joy and exercise. 
This strife began early : every true Israelite begins his 
war with his being. How many actions which we 
know not of, are not without presage and signification. 


238 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. II. 


In this contest, Esau got the right of nature, Jacob of 
grace : yet that there might be some pretence of equa¬ 
lity, lest Esau should outrun his brother into the world, 
Jacob holds him fast by the heal, so his hand was born 
before the other’s foot. But because Esau was some 
minutes the elder, that the younger might have better 
claim to that which God had promised, he buys that 
which he could not win. If either bv strife, or pur¬ 
chase, or suit, we can attain spiritual blessings, we are 
happy. Had Jacob come ou? first, he had not known 
how much he was indebted to God for his advance¬ 
ment.” Thus far the bishop. And thus, at the age 
of three-score years, and after twenty years from his 
marriage with Rebekah, Isaac became the happy fa¬ 
ther of two hopeful sons. And here the expiration of 
your time obliges me to interrupt the story. But I 
must not conclude the Lecture till I have, in a very 
few short hints, endeavoured to shew you the analogy 
of Isaac the son of Abraham, and Jesus Christ the son 
of God. 

They were both raised up for one and the same pur¬ 
pose ; even to manifest the mercy and love of God to 
fallen men ; the one as the bright and morning-star to 
usher in the day, the other as the meridian sun, “ tra¬ 
velling in the greatness of his strength.” Isaac the na¬ 
tural root and progenitor of Christ: Christ the spiri¬ 
tual author, root, and head of Isaac. Isaac was the son 
of much expectation, the subject of many prophecies. 
The set time of his birth was determined and foretold 
by almighty Power, by unerring Wisdom, long before 
it happened : thus the birth of Christ, the desire of all 
nations was announced to the world by a cloud of wit¬ 
nesses, not years, but ages, centuries, many centuries 
before the time. The time, the place, all the circum¬ 
stances attending it, were written as with a sun-beam, 
so as to render mistake impossible. Both Isaac and 
Christ were conceived out of the usual course of nature, 
that the finger of God might be seen and acknow- 


XrECTt II. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


239 


ledged in both events ; Isaac of a mother beyond the 
natural possibility of having children, Jesus of an im¬ 
maculate virgin. Isaac was early hated and persecuted 
of his brother, the son of his own father; and the per¬ 
secution of Jesus from the sinful world he came to 
save, began at his birth, continued through the whole 
of his life, and issued in a shameful, painful, and ac¬ 
cursed death. “ He came to his own, and his own 
received him not. He was despised and rejected of 
men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” 

But, what was seen in the mountain of the Lord 
forms the closest resemblance, and affords the subli- 
mest instruction. In the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, 
we behold the father and son like-minded in presenting 
it cheerfully at the command of God. Abraham with¬ 
held not his son, his oniy son, and Isaac voluntarily 
surrendered himself as a lamb for a burnt offering. 
And on Mount Calvary what do we behold ? “ God so 
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life,” John iii. 16. “God spared not 
his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, and how 
shall he not with him also freely give us all things ?” 
Rom. viii. 32. And Jesus gave himself for us “ a sac¬ 
rifice of a sweet smelling savour unto God.” He 
“ loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood.” 
Here also the Father and Son like-minded, and in the 
same view, and for the some end, the redemption of an 
elect world. “ O the height and depth, the length and 
breadth of the love of God: it passeth knowledge !” 

The private personal character of Isaac, a man of 
calmness, contemplation, and peace ; the dutiful son of 
his affectionate mother; the respectful observer of his 
father’s will, might, without doing violence to the sub¬ 
ject, be brought into comparison with the pure and 
perfect character of his antitype, whose spirit nothing 
could discompose, whose nights were spent in prayer, 
and his days in doing good; whose “ meat and drink 


240 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. II. 


it was to do the will of his heavenly Father, and to 
finish his work,” and whose dying breath uttered the 
accents of filial affection, and provided a son, a pro¬ 
tector, and a home, for his desolate afflicted mother. 
O the glorious excellency of that character, which ex¬ 
hibited the example of every personal, every relative 
virtue ; which comprised the essence of all that is ami¬ 
able in every other character, and left all created good¬ 
ness at an infinite distance behind ! Look to Isaac and 
be instructed. Look to Jesus and “ grow' in grace,” 
and go on towards perfection, and “ press towards the 
mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ 
Jesus. 

The next Lecture, with the divine permission, wdll 
contain the remaining part of the life of Isaac, from the 
death of his father to his own. May God communi¬ 
cate saving knowledge to us all, by every mean of in¬ 
struction: and to his name be praise in Christ, Amen, 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECTURE III. 

And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba. And the 
Lord appeared unto him the same nighty and saidy I 
am the God of Abraham thy father ; fear not , for I 
am with thee, and will bless thee , and multiply thy 
seedy for my servant Abraham's sake. And he budd¬ 
ed an altar there , and called upon the name of the 
Lord and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's 
servants digged a well .— Gen. xxvi. 23, 34, 25. 

It is a pleasing and an instructive view of the Divine 
Providence, to consider one and the same great design 
as carried on to maturity, in periods, and by persons 
the most remote from each other, without communi¬ 
cation of intelligence, without concurrence or exer¬ 
tion among themselves; to behold the great God mould¬ 
ing* guiding, subduing the various passions, purposes, 
and private interests of men, to his own sovereign 
will; to behold the building of God rising in beauty, 
advancing towards perfection, by the hands of feeble 
workmen, who comprehend not the thousandth part 
of the plan which they assist in executing, and who, 
instead of co-operating, frequently seem to counteract 
one another. One digs his hour in the quarry ; ano¬ 
ther lifts up his axe, and strikes a stroke or two in the 
forest; a third applies the square and the compass to 
the stone which his neighbour had polished. But 
their labours, their views, their abilities, however differ¬ 
ent, all promote the same end; and though they and 
Vol. I. St H 



242 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. III. 


their endeavours be frail and perishing, the work in 
which the almighty employs them is progressive, is 
permanent, is immortal—Here a shepherd there a 
king ; here a little child, there a sage ; here a legisla¬ 
tor, there a conqueror ; here a deluge, there a confla¬ 
gration, fulfils the design of high Heaven : and the glo¬ 
rious fabric of redemption rises and rises, though patri¬ 
archs, and prophets and apostles sink, one after ano¬ 
ther, into the dust. Man often begins to build, but is 
unable to finish, because he had not counted the cost; 
but God “ seeth the end from the beginning.” He 
can never want an instrument who has heaven, earth, 
and hell at his disposal. “ Surely, O Lord, the wrath 
of man shall praise thee,” Satan is thy chained slave, 
and “ ten thousand times ten thousand mighty angels 
minister unto thee.” How then can thy aim be de¬ 
feated ? How can thy counsels fail ? 

The personal characters of the three leading patri¬ 
archs of the house of Israel, differ exceedingly in many 
respects, and their manner of life differs as much, while 
their ruling principle is the same. The faith of Abra¬ 
ham, ardent and intrepid, was ever ready to encounter 
the most threatening dangers, to undertake the most 
difficult employments, and to render the most painful 
and costly sacrifices at God’s command. The faith of 
Isaac, placid and contemplative, sought the happiness 
of communion with God in calmness and solitude, and 
satisfied itself with the secret, untilmultuous delight of 
beholding his family built up, and the promises of God 
advancing to their accomplishment. The faith of Ja¬ 
cob, active and persevering, wrought upon and excited 
by the peculiarities of his ever-varying condition, sup¬ 
ported a life of much bustle and industry, and sur¬ 
mounted disappointments and afflictions the most mor¬ 
tifying and oppressive. For it is the office of this di¬ 
vine principle, not to alter, to suppress, or eradicate 
the natural tempers and dispositions of men, but to 
guide, impel, or control them, in conformity to their 
proper destination. 


1ECT. III. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


243 


Abraham, sensible of the ungovernable, encroaching 
spirit of Ishmael, of the numerous and pressing claims 
of his younger children, and of the gentle, yielding, 
unresisting nature of Isaac, had, with the prudent fore¬ 
sight of a good parent, made such a disposition of his 
temporal affairs in his life-time, as was most likely to 
prevent contention and mischief after his death. Ish¬ 
mael had been dismissed many years before, had alrea¬ 
dy become the head of many numerous and powerful 
tribes, “ twelve princes according to their nations,” 
Gen. xiv. 13—16 ; and from habit, inclination, and 
necessity, had contracted a fondness for roving, erra¬ 
tic course of life. He had been brought into a tran¬ 
sient connnection with his brother Isaac, by an event 
which softens the most rugged and obdurate disposi¬ 
tions, the dea^h of their common father; and their 
resentments, for a time at least, perhaps for ever, are 
buried in the tomb of him to whom they owed their 
birth. But difference of interest, affection, and pursuit, 
speedily separates them again. Ishmael betakes him¬ 
self to his favourite occupations in the desert, and Isaac 
abides quietly in his tent, and tending his flocks, by 
the well Lahai-roi. 

The sons of Abraham by Keturah had been more 
recently removed, with a suitable provision, into a dis¬ 
tant part of the country,” Gen. xxv. 6. So that upon 
his father’s demise, Isaac found himself in the quiet 
possession of by far the greatest part of his immense 
wealth, but excluded from the society of those whom 
his own sweetness of temper and sense of duty, and 
the proximity of blood, would have led him to culti¬ 
vate and cherish. And thus riches, the object of uni¬ 
versal desire and pursuit, create more and greater, wants 
than those which they are able to remove. By excit¬ 
ing envy, jealousy, and suspicion, they separate those 
whom nature has joined; friendship is sacrificed to 
convenience ; and to enjoy in security what Providence 
has given him, the unhappy possessor is constrained to 


244 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. III. 


become an alien to his own brother. We cannot re¬ 
frain from bestowing, in this place, a posthumous praise 
upon Abraham, who, uninfected by the tenacity of 
old age and selfishness, cheerfully surrendered, while 
he yet lived, a considerable part of his property, in or¬ 
der to ensure the future peace of his family, and wisely 
left his principal heir a poorer man, that he mighr leave 
him happier and more secure. How unlike those sor¬ 
did wretches, who will scatter nothing till death breaks 
into the hoard ; and who care not what strife and 
wretchedness overtake those who come after them, in 
the very distribution of their property, provided they 
can keep it all to themselves, were it but for one day 
longer! 

Isaac had hitherto trusted every thing to the wisdom 
and affection of his kind Father, and to the care of an 
indulgent providence, even so far as to the choice of 
his partner for life. But his father being now removed 
by death, and his own children growing up fast upon 
him, he is under the necessity of arising and exerting 
himself. For the blessing of Providence is to be ask¬ 
ed and expected only when men are found in the way 
their duty, and wisely employing lawful and appointed 
means of prospering. We accordingly find him, with 
the prudent sagacity of a good husband, father, and 
master, directing the removal of his family from place 
to place, as occasion frequently required ; forming al¬ 
liances with his powerful neighbours, for their mutual 
security ; and presiding in the offices of religion, his 
favourite employment. And though Providence has 
deprived him of the cousel and protection of an earth¬ 
ly parent, he finds, in his happy experience, that the 
man whom God continues to protect and bless, has 
lost nothing. “ Father and mother have forsaken him, 
but the Lord has graciously taken him up,” “hedged 
him round on every side,” and put the fear and dread 
of him into all the neighbouring nations, who, though 
they envied, durst not hurt him. 


LECT. Ill 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


245 


The distresses which embittered the remainder of 
Isaac’s life, were chiefly internal and domestic ; and 
alas ! had their source in his own infirmity, namely, a 
fond partiality in favour of his elder son ; the mischief 
of which was increased, and kept alive by a partiality, 
equally decided, which Rebekah had conceived in fa¬ 
vour of Jacob. “ Isaac loved Esau because he did 
eat of his venison ; but Rebekah loved Jacob,” Gen. 
xxv. 28 . Most of the evils of a man s lot may be ea¬ 
sily traced up to some weakness in which he has in¬ 
dulged himself, some error into which he has fallen, 
some opportunity he has let slip, or some crime which 
he has committed. Of all the infirmities to which 
our nature is subject, none is more common, none is 
more unreasonable, unwise and unjust, none more ea¬ 
sily guarded against, none more fatal in its consequen¬ 
ces to ourselves and others, than that of making a dif¬ 
ference between one child and another. It destroys 
the favourite and discourages, those who are postponed 
and slighted; it sows the seeds of jealousy and malice, 
which frequently produce strife, and end in violence 
and blood. It sets the father against the mother, and 
the mother against the father; the sister against the 
brother, and the brother against the sister. It dis¬ 
turbed the repose of Isaac’s family, and had well nigh 
brought down Jacob’s hoary head with sorrow to the 
grave. Parents ought to examine, and to watch over 
themselves carefully on this head. If they are una¬ 
ble to suppress the feeling, the expression of it, at least, 
is in their power ; and policy, if not justice, demands 
of them an equitable distribution of their affection, 
their countenance and their goods. For, if there be 
a folly which, more certainly than another, punishes it¬ 
self, it is this ill-judged and wicked distinction between 
equals One is ashamed to think of the reason which 
is assigned for Isaac’s preference of his elder to his 
youngest son, “ Isaac loved Esau "because he did eat 
^of his venison.” The original language expresses it 


246 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. III. 


still more forcibly, ic because his venison was in his 
mouth.’’ By what groveling and unworthy motives 
are wise and good men often actuated ! And what a 
mortifying view of human nature is it, to see the laws 
of prudence, and justice, and piety, vilely controlled 
and counteracted by the lowest and grossest of our ap¬ 
petites ! It was not long before the effect of parental 
partialities appeared. A competition for precedency, 
and the rights of primogeniture, engaged the attention 
of the two brothers, and whetted their spirits against 
each other, from their earliest years. The pretensions, 
of each were supported respectively bv the parents 
according to favour, to the disregard of every maxim 
of good sense, and of the destination and direction 
of the Divine Providence. Who it was that prevailed 
in this contention, and by what means, will be seen in 
the sequel. 

While the family of the patriarch was thus torn with 
internal dissention, Providence was pleased to visit 
him with a grievous external calamity. “ There was a 
famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in 
the days of Abraham,” Gen. xxvi. 1. This, for a while, 
represses animosity. Distress, common to all, teach- 
to them to love one another; and, instead of a struggle 
for precedency, the weightier concern, “ Where shall 
we find bread ?” now occupies their thoughts. This 
dispensation was probably intended as a reproof and 
correction to all parties. The parents were admonish¬ 
ed of the folly of aiding and increasing the unavoidable 
ills of life, by wilfully sowing discord among brethren. 
Esau, ready again to perish with want, is stung with 
remorse to think, that in one hasty, impatient moment 
of hnnger, he sold, for the transient gratification of 
a low appetite, what no penitence could undo, no mo¬ 
ney repurchase. And Jacob, feeling himself the crav¬ 
ings of hunger, was chastised for taking an unkind ad¬ 
vantage of his brother’s necessity; and, ready in his 
turn to perish, might be constrained to adopt the 


LECT. Ill* 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


247 


words of starving Esau, “ behold, I am at the point 
to die, and what profit shall this birth-right do to me,” 
Gen xxv. 32. For, although God serves himself 
of the weak nesses and vices of men, he approves 
them not, nor will suffer them to pass unpunished. 

Isaac, warned of God, removes not into Egypt, the 
land which had afforded his father shelter and subsist¬ 
ence in a similar storm, and which has often proved an 
asylum to the church ; but retires to Gerar, one of the 
cities of Palestine, situated between Kadesh and Shur, 
Gen. xx. 1. Abimelech was the prince who at that 
time reigned over the Philistines. The same person, 
according to Josephus, with whom Abraham had form¬ 
ed a connection so friendly, Gen. xx. 14, 15—and 
with whom, for that reason, Heaven now directed 
Isaac to sojourn till the famine should be relieved. 
This conjecture of the Jewish historian, though not in¬ 
supportable, from a physical impediment seems highly 
improbable ; if we consider that seventy-five years have 
elapsed since Abraham resided at Gerar: and history 
furnishes few, if any examples, of reigns of so long 
continuance. It is more probable that Abimelech was 
then the general appellative name of the princes of that 
part of Palestine, as Pharoah was that of the kings of 
Egypt. When we behold the patriarchs thus remov¬ 
ing from place to place, a feeble, unwarlike, encum¬ 
bered band, through nations fierce, envious, and vio¬ 
lent, their safety is to be accounted for only from the 
restraining power of God over the hearts of men. The 
dreadful judgment of Sodom, where Lot dwelt: the 
blindness which punished the attempt to violate his 
guests, and the more tremendous destruction which 
avenged just heaven of their ungodly deeds, might 
operate powerfully, so far as these events were known, 
and their memory was preserved, to overawe the 
neighbouring nations, and to procure for Lot’s family 
and kindred, the attention and respect which fear, if not 


248 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. III. 


love, inspires. And as a proof of his supremacy, that 
God, “in whose hand the heart of the king is, and 
who can turn it which way soever he will,” has fre¬ 
quently constrained the enemies of his church and peo¬ 
ple to be their friends and protectors. 

This repeated visitation of Canaan by famine, was 
a repeated trial of the patriarch’s faith. The promise 
of a land so frequently unable to sustain its inhabitants, 
could have little value in the eye of a worldly mind. 
But faith in God discerns the principal worth and im¬ 
portance of temporal blessings, in their being connec¬ 
ted with and representing spiritual objects, and ex¬ 
amines events, not by their agreement pre-conceived 
opinions, and extravagant expectations, but by their 
moral effects and consequences. A region uniformly 
and unfailingly plenteous, might betray its possessor 
into the belief that its fertility flow T ed solely from natu¬ 
ral causes, and God might be forgotten and neglected. 
A year of scarcity is calculated to teach man his de¬ 
dependence, and to force him to implore “ the bless¬ 
ing which maketh rich, and causeth the earth to yield 
its increase.” 

While he sojourned among the Philistines, Isaac 
falls into the same infirmity which dishonoured his hi¬ 
ther in Egypt. Misled, by suspicion unworthy of an 
honest man, and fear unworthy of the friend of God, he 
violates sacred truth, and sins against his own con¬ 
science : for when interrogated concerning Rebekah, 
“ he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She 
is my wife, lest, said he, the men of this place should 
kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon,” 
Gen. xxvi- 7. The criminality of this mistrust is great¬ 
ly aggravated, by the clearness and fulness of the hea¬ 
venly vision, whereby he had been admonished to bend 
his course to the court of Abimelech. “ And the Lord 
appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt. 
Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. Sojourn 
in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee : 


LECT. III. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


249 


for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these 
countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware 
unto Abraham thy father. And I will make thy seed 
to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto 
thy seed all these countries : and in thy seed shall all 
the nations of the earth be blessed. Because that 
Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my 
commandments, my statutes, and my laws,” Gen. 
xxvi. 2—5. Slight temptations frequently prevail, after 
trials more formidable have been successfully resisted 
and overcome. The wise, therefore, will reckon no 
danger small, no foe contemptible, no condition per¬ 
fectly secure. The faithful will learn to speak truth, to 
do good, to trust in the Lord, and fear nothing. 

Virtue is not hereditary in families, it descends but 
in rarer instances; whereas frailty, alas ! descends from 
every father to every son. Virtue is the water in the 
particular pool; vice the torrent in the river, which 
sweeps every thing before it. The moderation, honour 
and good sence of Abimelech, are the severest imagin¬ 
able reproof of the disingenuousness of the prophet, 
Gen. xxvi. 9, 10, 11. and happily prevented the mis¬ 
chief which Isaac, seeking by improper means to shun, 
had well nigh occasioned. 

Under the protection and friendship of this prince, 
he has now obtained a settlement in the land; and by 
the blessing of Heaven upon his honest industry, he 
prospers and increases in the midst of difficulties. 
“ Isaac sowed in the land, and received in the same 
year a hundred fold : and the Lord blessed him. 
And the man waxed great, and went forward, and 
grew, until he became very great. For he had posses¬ 
sion of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store 
of servants,” Gen. xxvi. 12, 13, 14. But we are by 
no means to imagine, that worldly success is ever pro¬ 
portioned to promising means and favorable opportu¬ 
nities. “ The race is not always to the swift, nor the 
battle to the strong.” Some men’s sails seem to gather 
Vol. I. 2 1 


*250 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. III. 


every breath of the wind : they get forward in spite of 
every obstacle. Others feel the tempest continually 
blowing in their faces. All things are against them, 
and though they set out with the fairest, most flatter¬ 
ing prospects, iinacountably thwarted and disappoint¬ 
ed, they “ wax poor, and fall into decay.” Let not 
prosperity, then, be deemed an infallible proof of wis¬ 
dom or worth, or of divine favour. Neither let want of 
success be always derived from folly, or vice, or the 
curse of Heaven; for in this mixed, imperfect, proba¬ 
tionary state “ time and chance happen to all men,” 
neither can a man tell “what is good for him all the 
days of his vain life, which he spendeth as a shadow.” 

Every temporal advantage has a corresponding infe¬ 
licity. Isaac grew rich and great, but “ the Philis¬ 
tines envied him.” And, “who can stand before en¬ 
vy ?” That dark malignant passion, prompted his surly, 
jealous foes to cut off* one source of his wealth, “ for all 
the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the 
days of Abrahanf his father, the Philistines had stopped 
them, and filled them with earth.” Gen. xxvi, 15. 
This was in effect to destroy the flocks and the herds. 
For without water, “ the cattle upon a thousand hills” 
are a poor, perishing, commodity. Envy considers 
that as gained to itself which is lost to another: and 
not only delights in destruction, from which it hopes to 
draw advantage, but enjoys the mischief which it works 
merely for mischief’s sake. Envy will even submit to 
hurt itself a little, to have the malicious satisfaction of 
hurting another much. Abimelech himself, more libe¬ 
ral-minded than meaner man, grows at length weary 
of his guest, feels hurt at his growing prosperity, envies 
his greatness, and dismisses him with cold civility. 
“ And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us : for 
thou art much mightier than we,” Gen. xxvi. 16. 
Grandeur admits not of friendship; and friendship dis¬ 
dains to dwell with profligacy. Of all the men in a 
nation, the king is most certainly excluded from this 


LECT. III. HISTORY Of ISAAC. 251 

blessing; and surely, his lot contains nothing to be 
once compared with it, or which can supply its want. 

Isaac prudently gives way. He withdraws the ha¬ 
ted object from before the eyes of envy, and, leaving the 
city, pitches his tent in the valley of Gerar. Appre¬ 
hending he had a hereditary right to the wells of wa¬ 
ter which were his father’s, and which the Philistines 
had maliciously obstructed, he digs again for them in 
the valley. And from respect to the memory of Abra¬ 
ham, as well as to keep alive the remembrance of the 
gracious interpositions of the Divine Providence in his 
behalf, he revives the ancient names by which the w r ells 
were distinguished. Particularly the name Beer- 
sheba, or, the well of the oath, is preserved, the memo¬ 
rial of the covenant ratified upwards of seventy years 
before, between the king of the Philistines and Abra¬ 
ham ; and which was known by that name for many 
ages afterwards, as one of the extreme boundaries of 
the holy land. But the unrelenting jealousy of the 
Philistines persues him from the city into the field. No 
sooner has he by industry procured for his family that 
important necessary of life, water, than the herdmen of 
Gerar endeavoured by violence to possess themselves of 
it. Isaac, fond of peace, chooses rather to recede from 
his just right, than support it by force; and still retires, 
seeking relief in patience and industry. He finds him¬ 
self still pursued by the pride and selfishness of his 
neighbours ; but at length conquers by yielding. A 
victory the most certain, the most honourable, and the 
most satisfactory. And the tranquillity and ease of 
R.hoboth ,* amply compensate the troubles and vexa¬ 
tion of Esek f and Sitnah . J Finally, to prevent, as 
far as in him lay, every ground of quarrel, he fixes his 
residence at a still greater disdance from Abimelech, 
“ He went up from thence to Beer-shebawhere 
feeling himself at home, after so many removals, he at 


* Room- 


t Contention, 


J Hatred 


252 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. III. 


once pitches his tent for repose, and builds an altar for 
religion ; and the hatred and violence of man is lost 
and forgotten in communion with God. 

The expression, “ he called upon the name of the 
Lord,” seems to import, that when his altar w r as built, 
it was consecrated to the service of God, with certain 
extraordinary solemnities; such as sacrifice, and pub¬ 
lic thanksgiving, at which the whole family assisted, 
and in which the holy man himself, the priest as well 
as the prince of his family, joyfully presided. His pie¬ 
ty was speedily acknowledged and crowned with the 
approbation and smiles of his heavenly Father. For, 
“ the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and 
said, I am the God of Abraham thy father, fear not, 
for I am with thee and will bless thee, and will multi¬ 
ply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake,” Gen. 
xxvi. 24. His meek and placid deportment, together 
with his increasing power and wealth, and the favour of 
Heaven so unequivocally declared, have rendered the 
patriarch so dignified and respectable in the eyes of the 
world, that the prince, who from an unworthy motive 
had been induced to treat him with unkindness, and to 
dismiss him from his capital, now feels himself impelled 
to court his friendship, and to secure it by a solemn 
compact. Abimelech considers it as no diminution of 
his dignity, to leave home, attended with the most ho¬ 
nourable of his counsel, and the supreme in command 
over his armies, in order to visit the shepherd in his tent, 
The expostulation, Gen. xxvi. 27, of Isaac is simple 
and natural, and his conduct, verse 28, 29, exhibits 
a mind free from gall, free from resentment. The re¬ 
ply of Abimelech discloses the true motive of this vi¬ 
sit. And wc are not surprized to find, that fear has at 
least as large a share in it as love, verse 28, 29. The 
worst of men find it to be their interest to live on good 
terms with the wise and pious : and good men cleave to 
each other from affection. 


LECT. III. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


253 


The covenant being amicably renewed, and the oath 
of God interposed, and, “ an oath for confirmation is 
an end of all strife,” the king of Gerar and his retinue 
return in peace, and leave Isaac to the retirement 
which he loved, and to that intercourse with Heaven, 
which he prized infinitely above the friendship of earth¬ 
ly potentates. And now a delightful calm of eighteen 
years ensued, of which no traces remain to inform or 
instruct men, but which, from the well- known character 
of this patriarch, we may well suppose were spent in 
such a manner, as to be had in everlasting remembrance 
before God. 

At this period, his domestic tranquillity was again 
cruelly disturbed, and by his favourite son ; who, in the 
fortieth year of his own life, that is, the hundneth of his 
father’s, introduced two idolatrous wives at once, into 
the holy family. This was two great evils in one. It 
was being unequally yoked with infidelity; and carry¬ 
ing on a practice which has ever been and ever will be 
fatal ter domestic peace. The daughter of a Hittite 
would naturally be disposed to interrupt the religious 
harmony which prevailed in Isaac’s habitation, and two 
wives at once would as certainly be disposed to annoy 
each other, and to embroil the whole family in their 
quarrels. Isaac was well acquainted with the solicitude 
of his pious father on his own account, in the important 
article, marriage; and was conscious of a similar anx¬ 
iety respecting the settlement of his sons. We may 
easily conceive, then, how he felt at this accumulated 
irregularity and imprudence of Esau. He was wound¬ 
ed there, where as a man, a father, and a servant of the 
true God, he was most vulnerable. To be neglected, 
unacknowledged in a matter of the highest moment to 
his comfort, by that son whom he had cherished with 
the fondest affection, and on whom he rested his fond¬ 
est hopes ; how mortifying to a father! But besides, the 
holy descent was in danger of being marred by an im¬ 
pure heathenish mixture; and the mind of his grand- 


254 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. III. 


children likely to be preverted from the knowledge and 
worship of the God of their fathers. Such is the un¬ 
gracious return which parents often meet with, for all 
that profusion of tenderness and affection which they la¬ 
vish upon their offspring; such is their reward for all their 
wearisome days, and sleepless nights. The ingrates 
dispose of their affections, their persons, their prospects, 
their all, in a hasty fit of passion: as if the father who 
brought them up with so much toil and trouble, as if 
the mother who bore them had no concern in the matter. 
The ungreatful disorderly conduct of their elder son, 
and no wonder, “ was a grief of mind to. Isaac and to 
Rebekah.” 

Whether it was from the vexation occasioned by this 
event, from disease, from accident, or some natural 
weakness in the organs of sight, we are not informed, 
but we find Isaac, in the one hundred and thirty-fifth 
year of his life. — in a state of total blindness; and he 
was probably visited with the loss of that precious sense 
at a much earlier period. But forty-five years, at least, 
of his earthly pilgrimage were passed in this dark and 
comfortless state. All men wish to live to old age ; but 
when they have attained their wish, they are apt to re¬ 
pine at the infirmities and the discomforts which are 
necessarily incident to it. They would be old; but 
they would not be blind, and palsied, and feeble. 
They would be old ; but they would not be neglected, 
wearied of, and forsaken. They would be old; but 
they would not be practised upon and deceived. But, 
old age certainly brings on all these, and many more 
inconveniences; and vain it is to dream of the benifit, 
without the care. We read but of one, that is Moses 
himself, whose “ eye, at the age of one hundred and 
twenty, was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” 

This dark period of Isaac’s life, containing many in¬ 
teresting and instructive particulars, will furnish mat¬ 
ter for a seperate discourse. In reviewing the past, 
we are under the necessity of again admonishing pa. 


LECT. III. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


255 


rents, on that momentous article — Impartiality in the 
distribution of their attention, their tenderness, and 
their property, among their ehildren. The trifling cir¬ 
cumstances of name of personal likeness, of beauty 
and deformity, and the like, over which parents had 
little power, and the children none at all; and which 
in themselves have neither merit nor demerit, and are the 
objects of neither just praise nor blame, have been 
known to establish distinctions in families, which des¬ 
troyed their peace, and accelerated their ruin. Chil¬ 
dren unborn have often felt the dire effects of a silly 
nick-name, imposed on a progenitor, whom they knew 
not, and whose relation to them was thereby rendered 
a curse. Men are often deemed unfortunate, both by 
themselves and others, where they deserve to be reck¬ 
oned unwise. They themselves do the mischief, and 
then wonder how it came about. They spoil their 
children, and then complain that they are so perverse. 
I know how difficult it is to bring up youth; how 7 
difficult to bear an even hand between child and child, 
to counteract the bias of favour and affection, to con¬ 
ceal and disguise the strong emotions of the heart. But 
it is only the more necessary to be prudent, to be vigi¬ 
lant, ‘ to walk circumspectly,” and, to ask “ wisdom 
of God.” 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECTURE IV. 

And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his 
eyes were dim, so that he coidd not see, he called 
Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son. 
And he said unto him. Behold, here am I, And he 
said, Behold, now I am old, I know not the day of 
my death . Now, therefore, take, I pray thee, thy 
weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the 
field, and take me some venison ; and make me savoury 
meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may 
eat ; that my soul may bless thee before I die . And 
llebelcah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son ; 
and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to 
bring it ,— Gen. xxvii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 

There is a generous principle in human nature 
which commonly disposes us to take part with the 
weakest. We feel an. honest indignation at seeing 
weakness oppressed by might, honesty over-reached 
by cunning, and unsuspected goodness played upon 
by selfishness and knavery. God himself feels the in¬ 
sults offered to the destitute and the helpless; declares 
himself “ the judge of the widow, the protector of the 
fatherless, the shield of the stranger.” He aims his 
thunder at the head of him who putteth a “ stumbling- 
block in the way of the blind, and planteth a snare for 
the innocent.” And.though in the sovereignty of his 
power, and the depths of his wisdom, he is sometimes 
pleased to employ the vices of men to execute his pur- 




LECT* IV. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


257 


poses of goodness and mercy, he loves and approves 
only “ whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsover 
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso¬ 
ever things are of good report.” Phil. iv. 8. and the 
persons who love arid practise them. 

It is not the least profitable part of the study of both 
providence and scripture, to trace the conduct of a 
righteous God in punishing the offender, though he 
has subdued the offence into a servant of his own will; 
chastening his children by a rod of their own prepar¬ 
ing ; tumbling the wicked into the pit which them¬ 
selves have digged, and bringing backsliders again to 
himself, by making them to eat the bitter fruit of their 
own doings. Happy it is for the children of men, if 
their deviations from the path of rectitude meet their 
correction in a temporal punishment. But wo to that 
man, whom justice permits to thrive in his iniquity, and 
to grow hardeed through impunity; whose retribu¬ 
tion is deferred till repentance can produce no change. 
Chastise me, O Father, as severely as thou wilt. Let 
me not fall alseep under my transgression, and thy hot 
displeasure. Dispose as thou wilt of my body, my 
estate, my worldly comfort ; but let my soul live be¬ 
fore thee. Let me see my sin, and purge me throughly 
from it. 

^■We are now to attempt the illustration of these 
reflections, from history. 

The life of Isaac may be divided into three periods. 
The first, containing seventy-five years, from his birth 
to the death of Abraham ; during which, being un¬ 
der parental government, and of a meek, unaspiring 
disposition, his history is blended with, and included 
in that of his father. The second, commencing at his 
father’s death, and ending in his one hundred and thir¬ 
ty seventh year : when it pleased God to visit him with 
extreme weakness, or total loss of eye-sight. This 
contains the space of sixty-two years, which may be 
Vol. I. 2 K 


258 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. IV. 


termed his active period. To it succeeds a heavy pe¬ 
riod of iorty three years, up to the day of his death. 
During which we see a poor dark, old man, at the dis¬ 
posal of others, moving in a narrow sphere; “ know¬ 
ledge” and comfort “ at one entrance, quite shut out.” 
We heiioid a man, who,when, “ he was young, gird¬ 
ed himself, and walked whither he would ; hut now 
become old, stretched forth his hands, and another 
girding him, and carring him whither he would not.” 
This portion of his history, accordingly, is blended 
with, and swallowed up in that of his two sons. 

At the beginning of this period, we find Isaac sensi¬ 
ble of his growing infirmities, feeling the approach of 
death, though ignorant of the day of it, and anxious to 
convey the double portion, the patriarchal benediction, 
and the covenant promise, according to the bent of his 
natural affection, to his elder and more beloved son. 
He calls him with accents of paternal tenderness, and 
proposes to him the mingled gratification of pursuing 
his own favorite amusement, of ministering to his fond 
father’s pleasure, and of securing to himself the great 
object of his ambition and desire, the blessing, with 
all its valuable effects. 

Behold of what importance it is, that our propensi¬ 
ties be originally good, seeing indulgence and habit 
interweave them with our very constitution, till they 
become a second nature, and age confirms instead of 
eradicating them. We find the two great infirmities of 
Isaac’s character predominant to the last, a disposition 
to gratify his palate with a particular kind of food, and 
partiality to his son Esau. Time nas not yet blunted 
the edge of appetite ; and the eye of the mind, dim as 
the bodily organ, overlooks the undutifulness which 
had pa retd a father’s heart, by unhallowed inauspici¬ 
ous marriages with the Hittite; and Isaac discerns in 
his darling, those qualities only, in which misguided 
affection had dressed him out. Thus, a strong and 
lively principle of grace may consist with much natu¬ 
ral weakness. 


LECT. IV. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


259 


Rebekah, equally attentive to the interest of her 
younger son, happened to overhear the charge which 
Isaac gave to Esau, and immediately, with the quick¬ 
ness of a female, determined, at all hazards, to carry 
a favorite point, she builds upon it a project of obtain¬ 
ing, by management and address, what she despaired 
of bringing about by the direct road of entreaty or per¬ 
suasion. Unhappy it is for that family, the heads of 
which entertain opposite views, and pursue separate 
interests. One tent could not long contain two rival 
brothers, whose animosity was kept alive and encour¬ 
aged by those, whom wisdom and authority should have 
interposed to suppress it. It is affecting to think how 
little' scrupulous even good people are, about the means 
of accomplishing what their hearts are set upon ; how 
easily the understanding and the conscience become the 
dupe of the affections. The apologists of Rebekah 
charitably ascribe her conduct on this occasion to mo¬ 
tives of religion. She is supposed to be actuated 
throughout by zeal for supporting the destination of 
Heaven, “ The elder shall serve the younger a des¬ 
tination which she observed her husband was eager to 
subvert. I am not disposed to refuse her, to a certain 
degree, the credit of so worthy a principle ; for the pi¬ 
ety of her spirit, on other occasions, is unquestionable. 
But I see too much of the woman, of the mother, of 
the spirit of this world, in her behaviour, to believe that 
her motives were wholly pure and spiritual. Religion, 
true religion, never does evil that good may come. 

Admitting that Isaac was to blame, for misunder¬ 
standing, forgetting or endeavouring to contradict the 
oracle which gave the preference to Jacob ; surely, 
surely, it belonged to the wife of his youth to have em¬ 
ployed means to undeceive and admonish him. Wias 
the deception which she practised upon his helplessness 
and infirmity, the proof she exhibited of the love, hon¬ 
our and obedience which she owed her lord ? Was it 
consistent with genuine piety, to take the work of God 


260 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT.IV. 


out of his hands ? as if the wisdom of Jehovah needed 
the aid of human craft and invention. And, could a 
mother, not only herself deviate into the crooked paths 
of dissimulation and falsehood, and become a pattern 
of deceit, but wickedly attempt, to decoy, persuade, 
constrain her own son, to violate sacred truth ? “ It is 
not, and it cannot come to good.” 

Having planned her scheme, and over-persuaded 
Jacob to assist in the execution of it, Rebekah loses 
not a moment; and Isaac’s favorite dish is ready to be 
served up long before the uncertainty of hunting, and 
the dexterity of Esau could have procured it. Jacob, 
arrayed in goodly raiment of his elder brother, disguis¬ 
ed to the sense of feeling, as much as art could dis¬ 
guise him, and furnished with the savoury meat which 
his father loved, advances with trembling, doubtful 
steps to his apartment. In the conversation that ensu¬ 
ed, which is most to be wondered at—the honest, un¬ 
suspecting simplicity of the father ; or, the shameless, 
undaunted effrontery of the son ? But, in thinking of 
the one, our wonder is mingled with respect and 
esteem ; the other excites resentment and abhorrence. 
It shews the danger of getting into a wrong train. One 
fraud must be followed up with another; one injury 
must support and justify another ; and simple false¬ 
hood, by an easy progress, rises up to perjury. Who 
is not shocked, to hear the son of Isaac interposing the 
great and dreadful name of the “ LORD God of his 
hither,” not to confirm the truth, but to countenance 
and bear out a wilful and deliberate lie ? What earthly 
good is worth purchasing at such a price ? Surely his 
tongue faultered when it pronounced those solemn, 
those awful words. 

The good old man’s suspicions were evidently alarm¬ 
ed, either by the tone of Jacob’s voice, or by the hesi¬ 
tating manner in which he spoke. And, apprehending 
he had an infallible method of detection, if a fallacy 
there were, he appeals from the testimony of his ears 


LECT. IV. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


261 


to his feeling. But behold, craft is too deep for hon¬ 
esty. Rebekah and her son have not contrived their 
plot so ill, as to fail at this stage of the business ; and 
Isaac is too good himself to imagine that others could 
be so wicked. He suffers himself, therefore, to be at 
length persuaded; and, refreshed with meat and drink, 
pronounces the blessing which he had promised; Had 
he not been blinded, when he saw, with ill-judged 
favour to Esau, and seduced by the flavour of his veni¬ 
son, he had not been exposed to this imposition in his 
helpless state. Could Jacob have trusted in God, and 
waited to be conducted of Providence, he had arrived 
at his end no less certainly, and with much less disho¬ 
nour. Rut “ God is true, though every man be found 
a liar.” 

It is worthy of observation, that though Isaac, by the 
spirit of prophecy which was in him, foresaw and fore¬ 
told the future fortunes of his family ; though he could 
clearly discern objects at the remotest distance, his na¬ 
tural discernment was so small, and even his prophetic 
knowledge so partial, that he could not distinguish the 
one branch of his family from the other; and, impelled 
by a will more powerful than his own, he involuntarily 
bestowed dominion and precedency where he least in¬ 
tended it. “ For the prophecy came not in old time 
by the -will of man: but holy men of God spake as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” 2 Peter i. 21. 
ThusBalaam afterwards prophesied, not what he would, 
but as the Spirit of God constrained him; and thus, 
Caiaphas predicted the death of Christ for the sins of 
the people; but “this spake he, not of himself: but 
being, high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus 
should die for that nation,” John xi. 51. 

Thus was Isaac deceived, in having Jacob imposed 
upon him for Esau. Nor was Rebekah less disap¬ 
pointed. For the blessing which she had surreptitious¬ 
ly obtained for her favorite, instead of producing the 
immediate benefits expected from it, plunged him in- 


262 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. IV. 


to an ocean of distress, exiled him from his country 
and his father’s house, exposed him, in his turn, to im¬ 
position and insult; and, but for the care of a super¬ 
intending Providence, the success which he had earn¬ 
ed by the sacrifice of a good conscience, must have 
defeated and destroyed itself. But “ the counsel of 
the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to 
all generations,” Psalm xxxiii. 11. “ His decree 

may no man reverse.” “ The wrath of man worketh 
not the righteousness of God ; but the wisdom and 
righteousness of God, can easily bend the wrath of 
man to their purpose. 

Jacob has hardly departed with his ill-gotten bene¬ 
diction, when Esau arrives in the triumph of success 
and hope ; his heart overflowing with filial tenderness, 
and panting for the promised reward of his labours. 
The feelings of both the father and son, when the 
cheat was discovered, are more easily conceived than 
described : the shame of being over-reached, resent¬ 
ment against the imposter, the chagrin of disappointed 
hope, of disappointed ambition : bitter reflection on 
the folly and danger of resisting the high will of Hea¬ 
ven, and on the hard necessity of submitting to the 
irreversible decree. Nothing can exceed the tender¬ 
ness of Esau’s expostulation, when he found the bless¬ 
ing was irrecoverably gone from him. The name of 
his brother ; the occasion of its being given him ; his 
conduct since he grew up ; the repeated advantage he 
had taken, of his necessity at one time, of his absence 
at another, all rush upon his mind at once, and excite 
a tempest of passion which he is unable to govern. 
“ And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one 
blessing, my father ? Bless me, even me also, O my 
father; and Esau lift up his voice, and wept,” Gen. 
xxii. 38. The ability and the good will of an earthly 
parent have their limits. He has but one, or at most, 
a second blessing to bestow. What he gives to this 
child is so much taken away from that other. But 


LECT. IV. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC, 


263 


the liberality and the power of our heavenly Father are 
unbounded. “ In our Father’s house there are many 
mansions.” With him “there is bread enough, and 
to spare.” Isaac discovers, at length, that he has been 
lighting against God ; and while he resents Jacob’s sub- 
tilty, and the unkindness of Rebekah, he acknowledges 
and submits to the high will of Heaven. The bless¬ 
ing which he had pronounced unwittingly, and which 
he finds to be irrevocable, he now deliberately and 
cheerfully confirms. 

And now, behold the little spark of discord between 
the brethren blown up into a flame, which threatens 
destruction to the whole family. And, dreadful to 
think, Esau looks forward with desire to the death of 
his old kind father, that he might prosecute revenge 
against his brother unto blood. Hitherto we have 
seen in Esau an object of compassion ; we now view 
him with detestation ; and we find the righteous judg¬ 
ment of God prosecuting this murderous disposition in 
his posterity, to their utter ruin. “ For thy violence 
against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and 
thou shalt be cut off for ever,” Obad. verse 10. “ As 
I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto 
blood, and blood shall pursue thee : sith thou hast not 
hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. Thus I 
will make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off' from 
it him that passeth out, and him that returneth,” Ezek, 
xxxv. 6, 7. “ Thus saith the Lord, For thee trans¬ 
gressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away 
the punishment thereof: because he did pursue his 
brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and 
his anger did tear perpetually, and kept his wrath for 
ever. But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall 
devour the palaces of Bozrah,” Amos i. 11, 12. Re¬ 
bekah too, now that “ a sword pierces through her own 
soul,” ready “ to lose both her children in one day,” too 
late discerns how imprudently she has acted, and is 
glad to purchase the safety of her favorite at the price 


264 . 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. IV. 


of his banishment. So uneasily do those possessions 
sit upon us which we have acquired by improper means. 

The threatening words of his elder son, must have 
speedily reached the ears of the aged patriarch also. 
And he has the inexpressible mortification of learning 
that the ungrateful wretch whom he had cherished in 
his bosom, and to whom his fondness would have given 
every thing, was enjoying the prospect of his approach, 
ing death, because it would afford a safer opportunity 
of practising his meditated revenge. This indeed was 
the bitterness of death, to “ feel how sharper than a 
serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” And, 
thus severely the unwise attachment of both the pa¬ 
rents punished itself, by the effect which it produced. 

To prevent the dreadful mischief which hung over 
his hoary head, all his prospects concerning Esau, be¬ 
ing now blighted by the heathenish alliances which he 
had formed, by his diabolical character, and by the re¬ 
jection of Heaven, he gladly consents to the dismission 
of Jacob: and ail his hopes, at length, settled on him 
whom he loved less. But, to part with the heir of the 
promise, at the age of one hundred and forty years, to 
send him away into a far country—was it not to part 
with him for ever ? The fervour of his farewell benedic¬ 
tion, pathetically expresses his despair of meeting him 
again, “ God Almighty bless thee, and make thee 
fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a mul¬ 
titude of people : and give thee the blessing of Abra¬ 
ham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee, that thou may¬ 
est inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which 
God gave to Abraham.” Gen. xxviii. 3, 4. These 
are the last words, this the last action of Isaac’s life 
upon record. But his latter end was at a greater dis¬ 
tance than he or than Esau apprehended. He surviv¬ 
ed this event forty years. He lived to lose in commu¬ 
nion with God, the disorder and dispersion of his fami¬ 
ly. He lived to shelter and to bless by his prayers, 
him whom the paternal roof could shelter and protect no 


LECT. IV. 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


265 


longer. He lived to be refreshed with the good tidings 
of the success of the blessing, and the happy increase 
of Jacob’s family. He lived to “ see him” again “ in 
his touch,” and to embrace his grand-children. This 
period of his life is a mere blank to posterity. But if 
we are ever permitted to read in “ the book of God’s 
remembrance,” O how will these forty years of silence 
and oblivion arise and shine ! 

At last, old and full of days, Isaac drops into the 
grave. “ The days of Isaac were an hundred and 
fourscore years, and Isaac gave up the ghost and died, 
and was gathered unto his people,” Gen. xxxv. 28, 29. 
<£ Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my 
last end be like his !” Time, and a better spirit, and 
the death of a father, have happily extinguished re¬ 
sentment between the brothers. Esau thinks no more 
of slaying Jacob. They mingle tears, as did Isaac and 
Ishmael, over their parent’s tomb, and their angry pas¬ 
sions sleep in the dust with him. 

Thus lived and died Isaac the son of Abraham, a 
man of contemplation, piety, and peace. A man of 
few and slight infirmities ; of many and eminent vir¬ 
tues. A man whom Providence tried with multiplied 
and severe afflictions ; and whom faith strengthened to 
bear them with patience and fortitude. His story 
comes home to the breast and bosom of every man. 
His excellencies are such as all may, by due cultiva¬ 
tion, acquire ; his virtue such as all may imitate. His 
faults are those, to which even good men are liable, 
and which they are the more concerned to avoid, or to 
amend • 

To young men, we would hold him up as a pattern 
of filial tenderness and submission. Isaac possessed in 
an eminent degree, that most amiable quality of inge¬ 
nuous youth, dutiful respect to the mother who bare 
him. He cherished her with pious attention while she 
lived, and sincerely lamented her in death; till duty- 
called him to drop the grateful and affectionate son, in 
V ojL. I. 2 L 


266 


HISTORY OF ISAAC. 


LECT. IV- 


the loving and faithful husband. So long as Abraham 
lived, Isaac had no will but the will of his father. The 
master of a family may learn of him domestic piety 
and devotion, conjugal fidelity, prudent foresight, per¬ 
severing industry. The selfish and contentious are re¬ 
proved by the example of his moderation, by his pa¬ 
tience under unkindness and injustice, by his meek 
surrender of an undoubted right, for the sake of peace. 
Let the aged consider him well, and imitate his sweet¬ 
ness of temper, his resignation under affliction, his 
gentle requital of deception and insult, his superiority 
to the world, his composure in the prospect of dissolu¬ 
tion, and the faith which triumphed over death and the 
grave. Let the affluent and the prosperous learn of 
him, to adorn high rank and ample fortune, by humili¬ 
ty and condescension; and the wretched, to endure 
distress with fortitude and resignation. Let his faults 
be forgotten, and his infirmities covered; or remem¬ 
bered only as a reproof and admonition to ourselves. 
And let us be followers together of him, and of all 
them who “ through faith and patience inherit the pro¬ 
mises.” 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECTURE V. 

And the hoys grew ; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a 
man of the field: and Jacob was a plain man, dwell¬ 
ing in tents. And Isaac loved Esau , because he did 
eat of his venison ; but Rebekah loved Jacob. And 
Jacob sod pottage : and Esau came from the field , and 
he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I 
pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint: 
therefore his name was called Edom . And Jacob 
said , Sell me this day thy birth-right. And Esau 
said , Behold-, I am at the point to die : and what 
profit shall this birth-right do to me ? and Jacob said, 
Sware to me this day : and he swarc unto him : and 
he sold his birth-right unto Jacob, Then Jacob gave 
Esau bread and pottage of lentiles, and he did eat 
and drink , and rose up, ancl went his way : thus Esau 
despised his birth-right—^ Gen. xxv. 27—34, 


The importance of the personages, to whose ac¬ 
quaintance we are introduced in the sacred pages, is 
to be estimated, not by circumstances which catch 
and engage the superficial and the vain, and which 
constitute what is called greatness among men. No; 
“ God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to 
confound the things which are mighty; and base things 
of the world, and things which are despised, hath God 
chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to 
naught things that are.” When great men are to be 
sought for, the mind that is governed by worldly ideas 




268 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. V. 


rushes straight to the palaces of kings, or enters into 
the cabinet where statesmen assemble, or attends the 
footsteps of the warrior over the ensanguined field. 
But reason and religion conduct us in far different 
paths, and present us with far different objects. They 
discover to us, many a time, true greatness under the 
obscure roof of a cottage, or the spreading branches of 
a great tree. They exhibit dignity and consequence 
affixed, not to the royal sceptre, but to the shepherd’s 
crook ; and feelingly teach us, that what is highly 
prized among men, is of little estimation in the sight 
of God, 

The person on whose history we are now entering, 
is the third in order and succession of the illustrious 
three, who are distinguished in scripture as the cove¬ 
nant friends of God, and the ensamples of all them 
who in after ages should believe. “ I am the God of 
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Ja¬ 
cob.” Thus it is spoken of the men, whom the King 
of kings delighteth to honour. And what is rank and 
title, among men, compared to this ? 

Jacob was, by the ordinance of Heaven, destined to 
pre-eminence and superiority before he was born— 
And he who could have raised nim to the rights of 
primogeniture, in the ordinary course of nature, was 
pleased, such is divine sovereignty, to bestow this ad¬ 
vantage upon him, by the concurrence of various pro¬ 
vidential events. That men may adore, and submit to 
the God “ who worketh all things according to the 
council of his own will.” 

The struggle between the twin brothers began early, 
and lasted long. With more than ordinary reasons for 
loving each other, the ill-judged partialities of parental 
affection, and the lust of precedency and power, in¬ 
flame them to uncommon rancour and animosity. The 
strife, which was at first accidental, or instinctive, be¬ 
comes at length wilful and deliberate. And the name 
of Jacob, imposed in the beginning, from the slight 


LECT. V. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


269 


incident of his laying hold with his hand of his brother’s 
heel, comes in process of time to be a mark of his 
character, and a record of his conduct. Events unim¬ 
portant, incidental, contingent, in the eyes of men, arc 
often matters of deep design, of mighty and lasting 
consequence with God. The natural disposition of 
the two brothers early discovered itself. Esau be¬ 
takes himself to the active and laborious sports of the 
field. Jacob, formed for social and domestic life, 
abides at home in the tents, attending to family affairs, 
cultivating filial affections, and living in the exercise of 
filial duties. The Chaldee Paraphrast gives a transla¬ 
tion of the words of Moses, rendered in our version, 
“ dwelling in tents,” considerably different in sense, 
“ he was a minister in the house of teaching,” under¬ 
standing by the word tents or tabernacles , the place 
appointed for divine worship. 

The first action of Jacob’s life, which we find record¬ 
ed by the sacred historian, is by no means calculated 
to give us a favourable impression of his heart. The 
young men were now in their twenty-fifth year. The 
elder entirely devoted to his favourite pursuit: the 
younger, ever on the watch to obtain that by art or 
industry which nature had taken from him. It hap¬ 
pened on a certain day, that Jacob had employed him¬ 
self in preparing a plain dish of pottage of lentiles, for 
his own entertainment. And here, let not the fasti¬ 
dious critic, who measures every thing by modern man¬ 
ners and maxims, consider this as an employment be¬ 
neath the dignity of Isaac’s son. It is, in truth, one 
of a multitude of instances, of the beautiful simplicity 
of ancient customs. The greatest heroes, and proudest 
princes, whom Homer has exhibited, are frequently^ 
found engaged in similar occupations. Esau, return¬ 
ing from the field, and having been either unsuccessful 
in hunting, or being too impatient to delay the gratifi¬ 
cation of his appetite till his venison were prepared, 
entreats his brother to give him a share of the provi- 


270 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. V. 


sion which he had made for himself. Jacob, taking 
advantage of his hunger and eagerness, proposes, as an 
equivalent for his pottage, no less a price than the fa¬ 
vourite object of all his ambition and desire, the birth¬ 
right. Unconscious or regardless of its value, and in 
a haste to satisfy the craving of the moment, he incon¬ 
siderately parts with that which nature had given him 
in vain, and which a father’s fondness strove to secure 
for him ; but which a conduct so 44 profane” and pre¬ 
cipitate, proved him altogether unworthy of possess- 
ing. 

But, was the conduct of Jacob pure and praise¬ 
worthy in this transaction? It cannot be affirmed. 
Providence had indeed ordained him to the blessing 
which he so ardently coveted ; but Providence neither 
appoints nor approves of crooked and indirect paths to 
the ends which it has proposed. Weak and erring 
men may perhaps not be displeased, to have part of 
their work taken oft' from their hands ; but if we pre¬ 
sume to take the whole or any part of the work of God 
upon ourselves, it is both with sin and with danger. 
“ His counsel indeed shall stand,” but the offender 
shall pay the price of his rashness. It is a dreadful 
thing to get into a course and habit of acting amiss. 
When once we have got a favourite object in view, how 
every thing is made to bend to it! The birth-right, the 
birth-right was the darling object of Jacob’s fondest 
wishes; and, as if the decree and the prediction of 
Heaven had not been security sufficient for the attain¬ 
ment of it, he seeks to confirm it to himself by a deed 
of sale with his brother, and the interposition of a so¬ 
lemn oath; and finally, is eager to have the bargain 
ratified by the solemn benediction of his father’s pro¬ 
phetic lips, “ He that believeth shall not make haste.” 
But alas ! I see in Jacob an earnestness to obtain his 
end, that borders on diffidence and suspicion ; and in¬ 
deed, whom or what can that man trust, who has not 
confidence in his Maker ? The vile scene of imposition 


LECT. V. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


271 


and fraud practised upon his blind and aged parent, as 
forming an essential article of Jacob’s history, rises 
again to view. I like his taking advantage of his father’s 
blindness still less than his attempt to carry a favourite 
point, by taking advantage of his brother’s hunger and 
impetuosity. The latter was but the skill and address 
of an open adversary ; the former was the cunning and 
deceit of a crafty and undutifui child. Observe how 
cautiously, and fearfully, and slow, the footsteps of the 
deceitful must proceed. The moment that the con¬ 
science swerves from truth and rectitude, the man be¬ 
comes jealous, and anxious, and timid. But integrity 
advances with firmness and intrepidity. u And Jacob 
said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother 
is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. My father 
peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a 
deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a 
blessing,” Gen. xxvii. 11,12. 

But, what could make Rebekah and her favourite 
son so anxious to attain this superiority ? What was 
there in the birth-right, to make it thus fondly coveted, 
and unremittingly pursued ? The answer to these ques¬ 
tions will at least plead some excuse for their zeal, if 
not wholly do away the guilt of their falsehood. First 
—The gift of prophecy was known to reside in the pa¬ 
triarch Isaac ; and the parental benediction, in certain 
circumstances, was considered as having the force of a 
prediction. Secondly— Pre-eminency and power over 
the rest of the family in patriarchal times, were affixed 
to priority of birth; thus God speaks to Cain concern¬ 
ing Abel, “ Unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shait 
rule over him.” Thirdly—A double portion of the 
paternal inheritance appertained to the first born. 
And this perhaps explains the meaning of Elisha’s 
request at the rapture of Elijah, “ Let a double portion 
of thy spirit be upon menot as if he meant to ask, 
or expect, twice as much as Elijah had, but the share 
of an elder brother. Fourthly— The honour of priest- 


212 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. V. 


hood resided then, and for many years after, in the first 
born, and was justly considered as the first of privi¬ 
leges. Finally—'The promise of the Messiah, “ the 
first born among many brethren,” was entailed upon 
the eldest son : and this was justly understood to con¬ 
fer a dignity and lustre infinitely superior to all tempo¬ 
ral blessings. The guilt of Esau consisted in underva¬ 
luing and despising an advantage so distinguished. 
The offence of Jacob’s fraud is greatly extenuated, if 
not wholly extinguished, in the nobility and worth of 
the prize for which he contended. Behold him then, 
retired from the presence of his deluded father, who had 
prescience sufficient to discern, at the distance of ages, 
the future fortunes of his family, without sagacity capa¬ 
ble of discerning the imposture, which was, at that very 
instant, practising upon his credulity and want of sight. 
Behold Jacob retired, in possession indeed of the bless¬ 
ing, but haunted with the terrors which eternally 
pursue the man, who is conscious t b himself that 
he has acted wrong. He has gained the birth-right, 
but he has lost a brother. He has by subtilty stolen 
away the prophetic benediction, but he has raised up 
against himself an implacable foe. The possession of 
nothing yields that satisfaction which we promised our¬ 
selves in it beforehand ; and conscience will not permit 
us to enjoy peaceably that which we have acquired un¬ 
worthily. His father’s blessing announced every kind 
and degree of prosperity, “ the dew of heaven, the fat¬ 
ness of the earth, the servitude of nations and people, 
lordship over his brethren,” But he was instantly con¬ 
strained to become an exile and a wanderer from his 
father’s house. And when he himself comes to make 
the estimate of his own life, in the close of it,—what is 
the amount? “ Few and evil have the days of the years 
of my life been.” His elder brother is declared his in¬ 
ferior, but he has by much the stronger arm of the two. 
And, while he is practising deceit upon his nearest re¬ 
lations in Canaan, Providence is silently preparing the 


ECT. V, 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


273 


means of requiting him in Padan-aram, in the per¬ 
son of one already a near relation, and about to be 
much more closely allied to him, Laban the Syrian, a 
man much more cunning and selfish, and much less 
scrupulous than himself. As this is a character which 
the inspired painter has delineated with peculiar felicity 
and skill, it may now be necessary to look back for a 
few moments, and observe the first opening of Laban’s 
spirit and temper, as they appear on the face of the 
sacred drama. 

Abraham’s servant being arrived at Mesopotamia, 
in search of a wife for Isaac, his young master, provi¬ 
dentially conducted, lights on llebekah, the sister of 
this Laban, by the well of water. Having briefly un¬ 
folded his commission, and made her a present suita¬ 
ble to his master’s rank and affluence, she runs home 
to acquaint her relations of the adventure. Laban, in¬ 
stantly attracted by the sight of the gold, and by the 
account he had l^ard, of the state in which Abra¬ 
ham’s servant travelled, very prudently concludes, that 
such a connexion might be improved to very great 
advantage. Hence that profusion of civility and kind¬ 
ness to an entire stranger, “ Come in thou blessed of 
the Lord, wherefore standest thou without ? For I 
have prepared the house, and room for the camels, 
Gen^ xxiv. 53,” Did we not afterward discover him to 
be grovelling, greedy and mercenary, this might have 
passed for the language of kindness and hospitality. 
Rut when the whole is taken in connexion, we see a 
man from first to last invariably attached to his own 
interest, employing his very daughters as mere instru¬ 
ments of commerce, and prizing nothing, but in pro¬ 
portion as it ministered to his own advantage. 

Of all the passions of our nature there is none so steady, 
uniform and consistant as this is. Avarice never tires 
by exercise, never loses sight of its object; it gathers 
strength by gratification, grows vigorous by old age, 
and inflames the heart, when the vital fluid can hardlv 
Voe. I. 2 M 


274 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. V. 


force a passage through it. What a feast for such a 
spirit, the concluding scene of the marriage treaty for 
Rebekah ! “ The servant brought forth jewels of sil¬ 
ver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them 
to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her 
mother precious things,” Gen. xxiv. 53. buch was 
the man with whom Jacob was now destined to spend 
a very considerable part of his life; and whose treat¬ 
ment of him, in the eyes of the severest judge, may 
pass as sufficient punishment for the little fallacies 
which he had practised in his father s house. 

Behold then, in the covenant head and representa¬ 
tive of the holy family, “ a Syrian ready to perish,” 
leaving the paternal roof without an attendant, without 
a guide, without a companion ; more forlorn than his 
grandfather Abraham himself. For the bitterness of 
his exile was alleviated by the company and conver¬ 
sation of his beloved Sarah; whereas, the affliction of 
Jacob’s banishment w as greatly increased, by the con¬ 
sciousness that he had brought it Upon himself; and 
from the bitter necessity of enduring its wearisome 
days and nights by himself alone. What could have 
supported a man in such circumstances ? A man, who 
was attached to domestic life ; a plain man, “ abiding 
in tents a man who had fondly flattered himself with 
the hope of power and tranquillity ; who had dreamed 
of superiority over his brother, but had not attained 
unto it ? 1 can think of but one thing, that could have 
rendered his lot supportable, as it then stood. Jacob, 
after all, was a good man. His conduct was not in¬ 
deed pure and perfect, but his heart was right with 
God. He had once and again been mistaken in the 
means which he had employed, but he had all along 
aimed at the noblest and most important end : and, 
from the chagrin and disappointment which ever at¬ 
tended the plans of his own devising, he had always a 
sure and a satisfying refuge, in the wisdom and mercy 
of God. In truth, he had not attained the knowledge 


7 


LECT. V. HISTORY OF JACOB. 275 

of true, practical, vital religion, in the house of even 
his father Isaac, in Lehai-roi: but he learns it in silence 
and in solitude, in the plains of Luz. It is a good 
thing for a young man to feel his own weight, “ to bear 
the yoke in his youth.” At ease, and in a multitude 
we forget God—in retirement and danger, we learn 
and feel our dependence, and call to remembrance a 
long-forgotten God. 

This is also a proper stage for resting on our way. 
We cannot lead our traveller from home, till we have 
found for him a place where to lodge. We cannot 
bear to see him from under the protection of the pater¬ 
nal wing, till we are secure that he has got another 
protector and friend, that “ friend who sticketh closer 
than a brother ” 

Conformity to the plan we have proposed, and re¬ 
gard to the analogy of scripture, would now lead us 
to exhibit the patriarch Jacob, as a type of the Messi¬ 
ah, to whom patriarchs and “ prophets all give wit¬ 
ness, J and who was specially prefigured by the son of 
Isaac. But his story is not yet sufficiently advanced, 
to afford a foundation broad and soiid enough to sup¬ 
port a comparison, such as a more extended view of 
the subject will furnish, and such as might more ra¬ 
tionally conduce to the ends of edification. We deem 
it of more importance, at this period, to submit to your 
consideration a few general observations, respecting 
typical representation, and the proper use to be made 
of it. 

First. In order to constitute a proper type, it is by 
no means necessary, that the person who answers this 
important purpose should possess perfect moral qual¬ 
ities. Were this requisite, who ever was worthy to re¬ 
present the Son of God, the holy Jesus, “ who did no 
sin, neither was guile found in his lips ?” But, as 
“ the law maketh men high priests which have infirmi¬ 
ty,” though the law gives no countenance to error or 
infirmity; so Providence, “ at sundry times and in 


270 * HISTORY OF JACOI3. LECT. V. 

divers manners,” raised up men to prefigure to their 
contemporaries an immaculate Saviour, who were 
themselves u compassed with infirmity, of like passions 
with others,” and, whose faults are but the more con¬ 
spicuous, from the honourable station and employment 
to which they were called, ft will follow, 

Secondly, That the comparison is not to be stated 
and pursued through every particular incident of the 
life, and every feature of the personal character of the 
person who is the type. Men of very different char¬ 
acters, and in very different situations, typified the Sa¬ 
viour of the world. To suppose every article of their 
history , condition and character to be typical and pro¬ 
phetic, would therefore, in many instances, involve 
absurdity and contradiction. Sampson, David, and 
many others who might be mentioned, were eminent 
types of Christ; but then the resemblance holds only 
in certain great leading circumstances : the miraculous 
conception, for example, the Nazaritic sanctity, the 
invincible strength, the solitary, victorious achieve¬ 
ments, the triumphant death of the former ; the divine 
appointment and elevation, the royal dignity, the pro¬ 
vidential success of the latter, the subduing all the 
the church’s enemies; these and the like, are the 
typical circumstances. But to pursue the resemblance 
throughout, to make every action of Sampson’s or of 
David's life typical of something correspondent in the 
Messiah, would lead far beyond absurdity ; it would 
issue in impiety and blasphemy. 

Thirdly. Scripture, by direct application, or by 
fair, unstrained analogy, ought therefore to lead, to 
regulate and to correct all our inquiries of this sort. We 
shall else be in danger of rearing a baseless flimsy struc¬ 
ture in the clouds, wdiich can afford neither shelter nor 
rest. When pleasant amusement alone is the object, 
invention and fancy may be allowed their full exertion. 
But when we aim at religious instruction, we must be 
contented to take the spirit of God for our guide. 


LECT. V. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


277 


And here too, men ought to be jealous and watchful 
over their own spirits; lest, in endeavouring to esta¬ 
blish a favourite system, and to justify or support 
pre-conceived opinions, they give to their own wild 
imaginations the solidity and weight of divine truth, and 
departing from the simplicity of the gospel, presume 
to stamp the poor trash of their own brain with the 
sacred impress of God. It has often, and with too 
much justice, been lamented, that many apply to the 
Bible for a justification of the opinions which they 
have already formed, and which they are determined, 
at all risks, to maintain ; and not to receive the infor¬ 
mation which they need, and to rectify the prejudices 
under which they labour. 

Finally. To determine the nature and propriety of 
typical representation, it is of importance to inquire, 
Whether or not the resemblance, which we mean to 
pursue, has a tendency to promote some moral, prac¬ 
tical pious purpose ? Does it inspire reverence, won¬ 
der, gratitude, love to God; dependence upon, and 
trust in him ? Does it engage us to study, to search, to 
love the scriptures ? Does it impress on the heart a 
sense of our own weakness, ignorance and guilt; and, 
of the deference, respect and good will which we owe 
to others ? Or, is it made a ministering servant to van¬ 
ity and self-conceit ? Leads it our attention from prac¬ 
tice to speculation, to theory from real life ? Does it 
place the essentials of religion in modes of opinion and 
forms of worship; and, neglecting the heart, content 
itself with playing about and tickling the imagination ? 
The answer to these questions will decide the point. 
By its fruit, the tree is known. 

Should all or any of these remarks seem to bear 
hard on any of the comparisons which we have endea¬ 
voured to establish, we are disposed cheerfully to relin¬ 
quish the most favourite analogy, rather than seem, in 
the slightest degree, to represent, disguise or prevent 
the truth. We mean not to wrest scripture to our 


278 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. V, 


purpose; but would make our purpose with reverence 
bend to that sacred authority. We would not with 
sacrilegious hands force out of the bible, by violence 
and art, a scanty and unnatural crop ; but by diligent 
cultivation and assiduous care, draw from a plenteous 
harvest of what the soil naturally produces. And,' 
we now return from this digression, to pursue the his¬ 
tory of Jacob. 




\ 









HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECTURE VI. 

And Isaac sent away Jacob , and he went to Padan- 
aram , un o Laban, son oj Bethuel the Syrian, the 
brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother . 
And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba , and went to¬ 
wards Haran —Gen. xxviii. 5, 10. 

At what stage, or in what condition of human life, 
can a man say, Now my heart is at rest, now my 
wishes are accomplished, now my happiness is com¬ 
plete ? By what unaccountably untoward circumstan¬ 
ces, is the comfort of the worthiest, best ordered, most 
prosperous families, oft-times married and detroyed ! 
Not through vice only do we suffer, but up to some 
piece of imprudence or inadverteney; up to some 
trifling infirmity in our nature, or some petty fault in 
our conduct, our greatest calamities may easily be tra¬ 
ced. One man has made his fortune, as it is called, 
but he has impaired his health in the acquisition of it, 
or made shipwreck of a good conscience. Another 
inherits a fine estate; but goes childless. There we 
behold a numerous and promising family of children ; 
but the wretched parents have hardly bread to give 
them : and here, both progeny and plenty; but hatred, 
and jealousy and strife, banish tranquillity and ease. 
The heart of this child is corrupted through indul¬ 
gence ; the spirit of that one is broken by severity. 




280 


HISTORY OF JACOB, 


LECT. VI. 


Isaac is wealthy, but his eyes are dim that he cannot 
see. God has given him two sons at once, but they 
are the torment of his life. He is fondly partial to 
Esau; and Esau does every thing in his power to 
mortify and disoblige his kind and indulgent father. 
He is unwittingly drawn in to bless Jacob; and, the 
very next breath, feels himself constrained to pro¬ 
nounce sentence of dismission and banishment upon 
him. “ The whole ordering of the lot is of the Lord,” 
but “ men themselves cast it into the lap.” Provi¬ 
dence only brings that out, which, with our own hands, 
we first put in. 

Jacob has by skill and address pushed himself into 
the birth-right and by subtility insinuated himself into 
the blessing. And how do they sit upon him ? Very 
uneasily indeed. His father’s house is no longer a 
home for him. Grasping at more than his right, he 
loses what he already had. Eagerly hastening to pre¬ 
ferment, without waiting for Providence, he puts him¬ 
self j’ust so much further back. And, seeking rule 
and pre-eminence in his father’s family, he finds servi¬ 
tude and severity in the house of a stranger. If men 
will carve for themselves, they must not charge the 
consequence of their rashness and presumption upon 
God. 

Behold the pilgrim then, on his way, pensive and 
solitary ; without so much as a favorite, faithful dog, to 
accompany and to cheer his wanderings. His whole 
inheritance, the staff in his hand. Now, for the first 
time, he knows the heart of a stranger. Now he feels 
the bitter change from affluence to want, from society 
to solitude, from security and protection to anxiety 
and danger. More forlorn than Adam when expelled 
from paradise, than Abraham when exiled from his 
father’s house, he has no gentle mate to participate and 
to soothe his anxieties and cares. 

The scripture assigns no reason, why Isaac’s heir, and 
Rebekah’s favorite son, the hope of a powerful and 


LECT. VI. HISTORY 01 JACOB. 207 

wealthy family, was dismissed with sueh slender provi¬ 
sion, wholly unattended, and unprotected too, upon a 
journey, according to the best calculations, of about 
one hundred and fifty leagues, or four hundred and fif¬ 
ty miles, through a country in many places desert and 
savage, and in others no less dangerous, from the hos¬ 
tile tribes which inhabited and ranged through it. But 
the reason, though not directly assigned, is plainly 
hinted at in the sixth verse of this chapter, which in¬ 
forms us that Esau knew of this journey, as well as of 
the cause and intention of it. Jacob therefore may be 
supposed to have stolen away secretly, and without 
any retinue, and to have shunned the beaten and fre¬ 
quented path to Padan-aram, in order to allude the 
vigilance and resentment of his brother, who, he had 
reason to apprehend, would pursue him to take away 
his life. And besides this, we may justly consider 
both the errand on which he was sent, to take a wife 
from an allied and pious family, to propagate a holy 
and chosen seed ; and the homely, solitary style of his 
travelling, as a very illustrious instance of faith in God, 
and obedience to his will, and that not in Jacob him¬ 
self only, but in his parents also, who could thus trust 
the sole prop of their family hopes, and of the promise, 
to dangers so great and distresses so certain, with no 
security but what arose from the truth, mercy and 
faithfulness of God. 

The uneasy reflections arising from solitude, and in¬ 
spired by a gradual removal from the scenes of his 
youthful and happy days, must have been greatly em¬ 
bittered to Jacob, by the consciousness of his having 
brought all this upon himself; by the keenness of dis¬ 
appointment, in the very moment when the spirits were 
wound up to the highest tone through success; and 
by total darkness and uncertainty with respect to his 
future fortunes. However, the cheerfulness of light, 
the pleasing change and variety of natural objects as 
he journeyed on, the $rduor and confidence of youthful 
Vol. I. 2N 


282 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VI, 


blood and spirits, carry him with confidence and joy 
through the day. But ah ! what is to become of him 
now that the sun declines, and the shadows of the even¬ 
ing begin to lengthen ? Overtaken at once by hunger 
and fatigue, and darkness and apprehension, where 
shall he seek shelter, how find repose ? Happily calam¬ 
ity strengthens that soul which it is unable to subdue. 
The mind forced back upon itself, finds in itself re¬ 
sources which it knew not of before, and the man who 
has learned to seek relief in religion, knows where to 
fly in every time of need. The strong hand of neces¬ 
sity is upon our patriarch ; submit he must, and there¬ 
fore he submits with alacrity. 

And now behold die heir of Abraham and of Isaac, 
without a place where to lay his head ; that head which 
maternal tenderness had taken pleasure to pillow so 
softly, and to watch so affectionately. “ He lighted 
upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, be¬ 
cause the sun was set: and he took of the stones of 
that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down 
in that place to sleep,” Gen. xxviii. 11. 

.“ Sweet are the uses of adversity ; 

Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, 

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” 

Jacob, removed from his earthly parents, is but the 
nearer to his heavenly father; a stranger in the waste 
howling wilderness, he is at home with God. Cares 
perplex his waking thoughts, but angels in bands lull 
his perturbed breast to rest; they guard, and instruct, 
and bless his slumbering moments. Who does not 
pity Jacob, as the evening shades gather and close 
around his head? Who does not envy his felicity 
when the morning lights appear, and with it, the recol¬ 
lection of a night passed in communion with God ? Ja¬ 
cob sleeps, but his heart wakes. What had been 
most upon his mind through the day, continues to oc¬ 
cupy and to impress his thoughts after his eyes are 
closed. Wonderful, awful, pleasing power of God! 



&ECT. VI. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


283 


which in the city and in the field, at home and abroad, 
awake and asleep, moves, directs, governs our bodies 
and our spirits as it will. What lofty heights is the 
mind of man capable of attaining! What wonders of 
nature and of grace is the Great God capable of unfold¬ 
ing to it, when delivered from the grossness of this 
clay tabernacle, or when joined to a spiritual body ; 
when we consider the astonishing flights it is even now 
capable of taking, when the duller senses are laid to 
rest, and their influence suspended ! 

Dreams are generally frivolous, meaningless, or ab¬ 
surd. But here is a dream worth repeating, worth re¬ 
cording ; whether we attend to what was seen or what 
was said. What was seen ? “ Behold a ladder set upon 
the earth, and the top of it reached Heaven: and be¬ 
hold the angels of God ascending and descending on 
it.” Gen. xxviii. 12. The circumstances of the 
dreamer, partly interpret the vision. Jacob’s holy de¬ 
sires, his faith and his prayers, had ascended, as on an¬ 
gel’s wings, up to the throne of God. Protection, and 
favour, and comfort descend from the eternal throne, as 
through the ministration of angels, on Jacob’s head. 
The top of the ladder reached unto Heaven, but the. 
Lord on high is above it. It standeth upon the earth, 
but the eye of Jehovah is at its foundation, and his al¬ 
mighty arm giveth it stability. The cherubim and the 
seraphim are not above his control and authority; a 
poor benighted pilgrim is not beneath his notice. 

Thus, the great plan of Divine Providence, uphold¬ 
ing all things, observing all things, subduing all things 
to his will, was feelingly conveyed to Jacob’s mind in 
this vision of the night. And in it, the world is in¬ 
structed, that however great the distance between hea¬ 
ven and earth, however inaccessible that bright abode 
may be to the flesh and blood, to celestial spirits it is 
hut a few steps of a ladder; before an omnipresent 
God intervening space is swallowed up and lost; and, 
condescending mercy, sovereign grace keep that com” 


284 


HISTORt OF JACOB. 


LECT. VI. 


munication ever opened which the malice of hell and 
the apostacy of man, had well nigh interrupted forever. 

But I should have given you a very imperfect inter¬ 
pretation of this mysterious dream, did I stop short in 
it, as merely a symbolical representation of the plan of 
Providence. For, in looking into another part of the 
sacred record, I find the same expressions and ideas, 
applied to a subject of peculiar concernment to the 
Christian world. Christ, when entering on the dis¬ 
charge of his public ministry, having given Nathaniel 
a personal and convincing proof of his divine know¬ 
ledge, adds, “ Thou shalt see greater things than 
these. Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye 
shall see Heaven open and the angles of God ascend¬ 
ing and descending upon the Son of Man,” John i. 51. 
Here then, is the true mystery of the ladder which 
unites heaven and earth. The Son of Man first de¬ 
scending to assume our nature, to achieve in it the 
work of man’s redemption ; and then, having finished 
the work given him to do, ascending triumphantly, in 
glorified humanity, up to Heaven again. And, behold 
here too, “ the Lord standing above.” The plan of 
salvation, or of Providence, is the design of him “ who 
worketh all things after the counsel of his will.” “Who 
in Christ Jesus hath abounded towards us in all wis¬ 
dom and prudence,” and who u in bringing many sons 
unto glory, hath made the captain of their salvation 
perfect through sufferings,” Heb. ii. 10. 

And who are they that ascend and descend along 
this mysterious scale ? “ He maketh his angels spirits, 
and his ministers a flame of fire,” Heb. i. 7. “ Are 

they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister 
for them, who shall be heirs of salvation ?” Ver. 14. 

If what by Jacob w r as seen in vision at Bethel be 
worthy our attention, no less memorable and impor¬ 
tant are the things which he heard It was much to 
hear a repetition of the covenant of God with Abra¬ 
ham, and Isaac, his fathers, ratified and confirmed to 


LECT. VI. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


285 ' 


himself. It was much to hear the blessing lately pro¬ 
nounced over him by the prophetic lips of his earthly 
parent, conveyed, to his ear by a voice infinitely more 
sacred. It was much to hear that the land which he 
then occupied with his weary limbs, as a wayfaring 
man who continueth but for a night, should afterwards 
be given to him and to his seed for a possession. It 
was much to hear from the mouth of God himself, the 
blessed assurance of protection through his journey, of 
success in his undertaking, and of a safe return to his 
native home. It was much to hear of a posterity, in¬ 
numerable as the sand upon the sea shore, and spread¬ 
ing to the four winds of heaven. But the essence of 
all these promises, the joy of all this joy, was to hear 
the renewed, the reiterated promise of a seed descend¬ 
ing from him, in whom “ all the families of the earth 
should be blessed.” What could Jacob ask ? What 
had God to bestow, more than this ? 

Here then the vision ends, and Jacob awakes. Af¬ 
ter the obvious, natural, and, we trust, scriptural view, 
which we have attempted to give you of the subject, I 
shall not use your patience so ungratefully as to tres¬ 
pass upon it by going into a detail of the wild, waking 
dreams of paraphrasts, and Rabbins, and pretended 
interpreters, on this passage of the sacred history. It 
is of more importance to attend to our patriach, re¬ 
stored, with the morning light, to the perfect use of 
his rational faculties, and making use of the admoni¬ 
tions and consolations of the night season, as a help to 
piety, and a spur to duty through the day. There 
was something so singular, both in the subject and ex¬ 
ternal circumstances of his dream, that he immediate¬ 
ly concluded, and justly, that it was from heaven. And 
is it not strange, that he who felt no horror at the 
thought of laying himself down to sleep in a desert 
place, under the cloud of night, and alone, is filled with 
a holy dread when morning arose, at the thought of be¬ 
ing surrounded with God. “ And he was afraid, and 


236 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VI, 


said how dreadful is this place ! This is none other 
but the house of God: and this is the gate of heaven,” 
Gen. xxviii. 17. And, if the visits of the Almighty, 
as a father and a friend, be thus awful even to good 
men, what must be the visitations of his wrath to the 
ungodly and the sinner ? 

Jacob arose immediately, and erects a monument of 
such simple materials as the place afforded, to the me¬ 
mory of this heavenly vision, which he was desirous 
thus to impress for ever on his heart. The difference 
of the expression in the eleventh verse, “ he took of the 
stones of the place, and put them for his pillows,” and 
in the eighteenth, “ he took the stone that he had put 
for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured 
oil upon the top of it,” Gen. xxviii. 18, has given oc¬ 
casion to one of the Jewish Rabbins to attempt a re¬ 
conciliation by a fiction of his own brain. Jacob he 
says, having chosen out just three stones over night, to 
support his head, found them all joined into one the 
next morning ; which he pretended to allege, was a sig¬ 
nification of the strict and solid union which subsisted 
between God and Jacob. And some later interpre¬ 
ters, though aided by the superior light of the gospel 
dispensation, have been simple enough to adopt this fa¬ 
ble, and to explain it, some of the ineffable union of the 
three persons who are the object of our worship; 
others, of the conjunction of the soul, body and deity 
in the person of Jesus Christ. 

It appears that Jacob intended simply to record, in 
such characters as his situation afforded, that night’s 
important transaction. He sets up the stone, or stones, 
upon which his head had reposed when visited with 
the visions of the almighty, in the form of a rustic 
pillar, and solemnly anoints, and thereby consecrates 
it, to the honour of God, by the name of Bethel, that is, 
“ the house of God;” and over it, thus dedicated, he 
afresh and voluntarily enters into solemn covenant with 
God, obliging himself by a sacred vow, to acknowledge 


LECT. VI. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


287 


and worship none but him ; committing himself with 
filial confidence to the protection of his gracious pro¬ 
vidence ; trusting the time and manner of his return to 
the care of infinite wisdom ; promising ever to consi¬ 
der this monumental pillar as an altar devoted to the 
service of God ; and binding himself, by an explicit de¬ 
claration, to devote to pious uses the tenth part of what¬ 
ever he should through the divine blessing acquire. By 
the way, the oil wherewith he consecrated nis pillar 
was undoubtedly part of the slender provision made for 
his j ourney ; and apparently a little bread and oil was 
all he could possibly carry with him. But of that lit¬ 
tle he cheerfully spares a portion for the purpose of reli¬ 
gion ; for the possession of a truly pious soul is small 
indeed, if it bestow nothing when charity, mercy or 
devotion give the call. 

With what alacrity does he now prosecute his jour¬ 
ney ! What a change in his condition produced in one 
short night! When the heart is established by grace,” 
difficult things become easy ; the valley is exalted, and 
the hill laid low ; the crooked becomes straight, and 
the rough places plain.” Nothing that the sacred his¬ 
torian deemed worth recording, occurred during the 
remainder of this pilgrimage. Jacob at length arrived 
“ in the land of the people of the east.” And now, no 
doubt, he flatters himself that all his troubles and mor¬ 
tifications are at an end. His grandfather’s servant El- 
eazer, had been happy enough to finish a marriage 
treaty for his master’s son in a few hours conversation ; 
surely then the heir of the same family may be equal¬ 
ly successful when making personal application for 
himself. Ah, blind to futurity ! Strange unaccounta¬ 
ble difference in the divine conduct towards different 
persons ! Jacob must earn that by long fourteen years 
servitude, which Abraham’s servant was so successful 
as to accomplish in the pronouncing of almost as many 
words. 

But here we must make another pause, and leave 


288 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VI. 


the next sweet scene of Jacob’s life, and the sequel of 
it, to another Lecture. But we must no longer defer, 
the beginning at least, of that parallel which is one ob¬ 
ject among others, if not the chief, in these exercises. 

Jacob was destined of Providence to power and pre¬ 
cedency before he was born. Jesus is declared the 
Son of God, and the heir of all things, by the angel who 
announced his miraculous conception and birth to his 
virgin mother. Jacob the last, in order of nature, but 
first in the election of grace, prefigures him, who, ap¬ 
pearing in the end of the world, is nevertheless “ the 
first-born among many brethren,” Jacob hated and 
persecuted of his brother, is an obvious type of him 
who was to come, “ despised and rejected of men 
crucified and slain by the impious and unnatural hands 
of those who were his bone and his flesh. Jacob dis¬ 
missed with blessings by his father from Beer-sheba, 
points out to us Jesus leaving heaven’s glory, and the 
bosom of the father, in compliance with the eternal de¬ 
cree to become a wanderer in our world ; “ a man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The object of 
Jacob’s journey and of Christ’s is one and the same, 
Jacob, to procure for himself a believing spouse, to be¬ 
come the fruitful mother of an elect offspring ; Jesus 
to purchase for himself, at the price of his own blood, 
“ the church, which is his body, to espouse it to him¬ 
self as a chaste bride,” united to him in everlasting 
bands of interest and affection. Jacob, deserted and 
solitary in the plain of Bethel, is a shadow of Christ 
forsaken of all in the wilderness of this world, yet not 
“ alone, but his heavenly Father always with him.” 
The vision of the ladder has already spoken for itself. 
What then remains but to add, Jacob’s covenant, conse¬ 
cration and vow are so many different representations 
of Christ’s covenant of redemption ; his unction by 
the spirit to the execution of his high office; and not the 
tithe, but the whole of his vast and glorious acquisition 
rendered unto God even the Father; when the king- 


LE CT. VI. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


289 


dom is finally delivered up to 11 him for whom are all 
things, and by whom are all things, that God may be 
all in all.^ 

I add no more but my most fervent prayers to Al¬ 
mighty God. That by night and by day, alone and 
in society, when you sleep and when you wake, in 
prosperity and in adversity, you may be still with God ; 
and that “ the Almighty may be your refuge, the 
Most High your habitation,” and “ underneath” and 
around you “ the everlasting arms.” Ajnen. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECTURE VII. 

And Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they 
seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had 
to her —Gen. xxix. 20. 

The great author of our nature has wisely and won¬ 
derfully adapted the various objects which successful¬ 
ly solicit our attention and engage our pursuit, to the 
different periods of our life, the different and successive 
affections of our heart, the different stations which we 
have to occupy, and the duties which we are bound to 
perform. Human life, in so far as nature predominates 
over it, does not consist of violent and sudden transi¬ 
tions, but of calm, gentle, imperceptible changes : like 
the gradual progress of the day, from the morning 
dawn to meridian splendor; and thence gradually 
back again to the glimmering twilight of the evening, 
and the shades of night. We emerge not at once from 
infancy into manhood; we sink not in a moment from 
manhood into old age. We grow, and we decline, 
without perceiving any alteration. Betwixt the giddi¬ 
ness and inconsideration of childhood, and the serious 
cares and employments of mature age, there is a mid¬ 
dle and an important stage of life, which connects the 
two. And there is a passion happily suited to it, 
which contains and unites the spirit of both; a passion 
which blends the vivacity and impetuosity of the boy 
with the gravity and thoughtfulness of the i$an : that 




LECT. VII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


‘291 


noble, generous passion, which the great God has im¬ 
planted in our nature, to attract, unite and bless man¬ 
kind ; and which, therefore, the pen of inspiration has 
not disdained, in its own inimitable manner, to describe. 
It was this passion which speedily compensated to Ja¬ 
cob the loss of his father’s house and the pains of a te¬ 
dious journey; which sweetened and shortened seven 
long years of hard and mortifying servitude; but 
which, at the same time, anticipated both the cares and 
the delights of future life. 

Jacob, cheered and supported by the recollection of 
his vision at Bethel, and animated with the hope of a 
happy meeting with his friends and relations at Padan- 
aram, goes on his way rejoicing; and, guided, pro¬ 
tected and sustained by an indulgent providence, he 
arrives in safety. It was that simple, innocent and 
happy age of the world, when the chief occupations 
and enjoyments of human nature were seen in the 
shepherd’s life ; while as yet, gold had not settled the 
price of every other production of the natural world, 
nor determined the importance of all intellectual en¬ 
dowments ; while as yet, commerce had not opened 
her ten thousand channels of luxury, to enervate, cor¬ 
rupt and destroy mankind. His conversation with 
the shepherds of Haran, Gen. xxix. 1—8, must always 
afford exquisite delight to those, whose taste, unde¬ 
bauched by the frippery of modern manners, and the 
affectation of ceremony and compliment, can relish the 
honest simplicity of nature, and the genuine expres¬ 
sion of unaffected unsophisticated kindness and bene¬ 
volence. From them he has the pleasure of hearing 
that his kinsman Laban lived in the neighborhood, and 
was in health; and that his daughter Rachel was every 
moment expected to come to the watering place, with 
her father’s flock. While they are yet speaking, Ra¬ 
chel, beautiful as the opening spring, and innocent as 
the lambs she tended, draws nigh with her fleecy 
charge. With what admirable propriety and skill do 


292 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VII. 


the holy scriptures represent the most distinguished, 
exalted and amiable female characters, engaged in vir¬ 
tuous, humble, useful employments! Sarah, baking 
cakes upon the hearth, for the entertainment of her hus¬ 
band’s guests; Rebekah, drawing water for the daily 
use of her brother’s family, and the refreshment of the 
weary traveller; and Rachel, feeding her father’s sheep, 
O that ye knew, my fair friends, wherein your true dig¬ 
nity, value and importance consisted ! They consist in 
being what God from the beginning intended you to 
be, “ a help meet for man not the mere instrument 
of his pleasure, nor the silly idol of his adoration. 

Jacob, with the ardour natural to a manly spirit, and 
the zeal of an affectionate relation, runs up to salute 
and assist his fair kinswoman. Little offices of civili¬ 
ty are the natural expression of a good and honest 
heart ; they often suggest the first sentiments of love, 
both to those who confer, and to those who receive 
them; and they keep love alive after it is kindled. 
The meeting of that day, and Jacob’s natural, easy, 
officious gallantry, in relieving Rachel, on their very 
first rencounter; of the heaviest part of her pastoral 
task, inspired, I doubt not, emotions very different 
from those which the mere force of blood produces; 
and were, I am sure, recollected by both, with inex¬ 
pressible satisfaction, many a time afterward. And 
little do I know of the female heart, if it would not 
much rather be wooed with the attentions and assidui¬ 
ties of an agreeable man, than by the prudent and dis¬ 
gusting formalities of settlements and deeds and rever¬ 
sions. Rebekah was courted by proxy, with presents 
and promises; Rachel, by her destined husband, in 
person, with the looks, and the language, and the ser¬ 
vice of love. Betwixt the union of Isaac and Rebekah, 
that match of interest and prudence, no obstacle, except 
the trifling distance of place, interposed: but many dif¬ 
ficulties occurred to retard, to prevent and to mar the 
union of Jacob and Rachel, founded in esteem, and 


LECT. VII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


29.3 


prompted by affection. They become insensibly attach¬ 
ed to each other. For love does not give the first warning 
of his approach to the parties themselves. But it did 
not long escape the penetrating, selfish eye of the craf¬ 
ty father and uncle; who, from the moment he ob¬ 
serves this growing passion in his nephew and daugh¬ 
ter, casts about how best to convert it to his own ad¬ 
vantage. 

Jacob had frankly told him his whole situation, and 
laid open all his heart. He informed him, that he had 
indeed purchased the birth-right, and obtained the pro¬ 
phetic blessing; but that through fear of his brother he 
had been constrained to flee from home, and to seek 
protection in Syria. This was, by no means, a situa¬ 
tion likely to engage the attention and to procure the 
kindness of a worldly mind. An empty, nominal birth¬ 
right, and a blessing which promised only distant 
wealth, were very slender possessions, in the eye of co¬ 
vetous Laban. He could not help comparing the splen¬ 
did retinue of Eleazer, seeking a wife for his master’s 
son, with the simple appearance of Jacob come a court¬ 
ing to his family, with only a staff in his hand; and he 
finds it greatly to the disadvantage of the latter. But 
it is the interest of avarice to put on at least the ap¬ 
pearance of that justice which it secretly dreads and 
hates, if not of that generosity which it despises. Ja¬ 
cob had, unsolicited, and without a stipulation, hither¬ 
to rendered Laban his best services for nothing. In¬ 
deed he was thinking of but one thing in the w r orld, 
and that was, how to render himself agreeable to his 
amiable cousin. When, therefore, Laban, who must 
clearly have foreseen the answer, under an affected re¬ 
gard to the interest of his relation, inquires into and 
proposes the condition of his future services, he with¬ 
out hesitation mentions a marriage with his younger 
daughter. And, having no marriage portion to give 
the father, as the custom of the times and of the coun¬ 
try required, he offers, as an equivalent, seven years 


294 


HISTORY OT JACOB. 


LECT. VII. 


personal servitude and labour. What is loss of ease, 
loss of liberty, loss of life, to love ? When I behold 
Jacob, at such a price, ready and,happy to purchase 
the object of his affection, whether shall I pity or con¬ 
temn the cold, timid, selfish hearts of the young men 
of the present generation who persist in the neglect 
of nature’s clearest, plainest law, from, I know not 
what, pretended reasons of caution and wisdom, which 
would feign pass for virtue ; but are in reality the off¬ 
spring of pride and luxury, pusillanimity and self-love. 

The proposal is no sooner made than accepted. And 
Laban has the satisfaction of at once betrothing his 
daughter to wealthy Isaac’s son and heir, and of secu¬ 
ring for himself the present emolument of Jacob’s la¬ 
bour, care and fidelity for seven good years. Thus, 
the rights of humanity, the laws of hospitality, and the 
ties of blood, are all made basely to truckle to the most 
sordid and detestible of all human passions. And be¬ 
hold the free-born grandson of Abraham sinks into ab¬ 
ject servitude* and, the worst of all servitude, subjec¬ 
tion t© a near relation. 

But as every blessing of life has its corresponding in¬ 
convenience, so every evil has its antidote. Jacob is 
contented and happy, while his pains and fatigue are 
alleviated by the conversation of his beloved Rachel ; 
and, what is it to him, that the stern, discontented 
father frowns and chides, so long as the beautiful daugh¬ 
ter receives him with complacency and smiles ? He 
bears with patience and cheerfulness the ardour of the 
meridian sun, and the cold chilling damps of the even¬ 
ing, in the hope of that blest hour, when tender sym¬ 
pathy shall sooth his distresses, and every uneasiness 
shall be lulled to rest, in the bosom of love. In this 
sweet commerce, the years of slavery glide impercep¬ 
tibly away; and, what absence would have rendered 
insupportably l©ng, the presence of the beloved ob¬ 
ject has shortened into the appearance of a few days. 
Such is the inconceivable charm of virtuous love. “ Ja- 


LECT. VII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


2*95 


cob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed 
unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her,” 
Gen. xxix. 20. 

Jacob, having faithfully fulfilled his part of the cove¬ 
nant, now calls on Laban to fulfil what was incum¬ 
bent upon him. The better to conceal the fraud which 
he was meditating, he feigns compliance ; and believ¬ 
ing Jacob is amused with all the usual apparatus of a 
marriage feast. In conformity to the custom of those 
eastern nations, the bride was conducted to the bed of 
her husband, with silence, in darkness, and covered 
from head to foot with a veil; circumstances all of 
them favourable to the wicked, selfish plan, which 
Laban had formed, to detain his son-in-law longer in 
his service. Leah is accordingly substituted in room 
of her sister. And he who by subtilty and falsehood 
stole away the blessing intended for his brother, is pun¬ 
ished for his deceit, by finding a Leah where he expec¬ 
ted a Rachel. He who availed himself of an undue 
advantage to arrive at the right of the first-born, has 
undue advantages taken of him in having the first-born 
put in the place of the younger. He, who could prac¬ 
tise upon a father’s blindness, though to obtain a laud¬ 
able end, is in his turn practised upon by a father, em¬ 
ploying the cover of night to accompish a very unwar¬ 
rantable purpose. Laban was base, treacherous and 
wicked; but Heaven is wise, and holy, and just. Let 
the man who dares to think of doing evil in the hope 
that good may come, look at Jacob, and tremble. The 
shame, vexation and distress of such a disappointment, 
are more easily imagined than described. And, what 
are all the votaries of sinful pleasure preparing for 
themselves? Treasuring up shame and sorrow, when 
the delirium of passion is over, and the returning light 
of reason awakes them to reflection and remorse. They 
thought it “ to be Rachel, but in the morning behold 
it was Leah,” 

The next day, as may well be supposed exhibited 


296 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VII. 


a scene of no pleasing kind; expostulation, upbraid- 
ing, and reproach. Laban, as avarice seldom chooses to 
avow its real motives, endeavours to justify his treach¬ 
ery and breach of faith, by a pretended regard for the 
laws and manners of his country, which permitted not 
the younger to be given in marriage before the first¬ 
born. An honest man would have given this informa¬ 
tion when the bargain was first proposed. It was an 
insult, not an indemnification, to produce it now. 
What will not this base passion make a man do ? To 
deceive the unsuspecting and unwary; to oppose the 
weak; to practise upon the stranger, are among its 
simpler and more customary operations. Behold it 

leading a father, to-by what name shall I call it ?— 

prostitute his own daughter. If there be a crime blacker 
than another ; if, Satan, there be a purpose thou wouldst 
accomplish which modesty shudders to think of, which 
the hand trembles to perpetrate, from which the con¬ 
science in horror recoils ; infuse into some dark heart 
the demon of covetousness, the love of money ; place 
gain in one eye, prostitution and parricide in the other 
and the work of hell is done. 

Mark how easy and flexible the conscience of a mi¬ 
ser is. Let interest blow the gale, from whatever quar¬ 
ter it be, and lo, with the rapidity of thought, the un¬ 
derstanding and conscience of the covetous wretch are 
veered round with it! The man, who last night shud¬ 
dered at the thought of violating^ foolish and absurd 
fashion of the country is not ashamed, the very next, 
morning, to propose polygamy and incest; and to make 
his own children the instruments of them. Whence this 
strange inconsistency ? It was for his advantage to ad¬ 
here to the custom of the country; and to dispense 
with the laws of God and nature. What does it con¬ 
cern him, that disorder and distress are introduced into 
his daughter’s family, so long as it can any how re¬ 
dound to his private benefit? If another man have 
what may be called a weak side* avarice is quick-sighted 


&ECT. VII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


2$7 


as the eagle to discern it, and not more penetrating to 
discover than dexterous to convert it to its own emol¬ 
ument. Unfortunately, Jacob’s infirmity was clear 
as the sun at noon. His unextinguished, unabated 
passion for Rachel was well known to her rapacious 
father; who had, with a joy which the worldly mind 
alone can feel, seen his flocks multiply, and his wealth 
increase, under Jacobs care. Unsatisfied and insatia¬ 
ble, he builds upon this well-known attachment the pro¬ 
ject of a further continuation of Jacob’s servitude, with 
all its accumulation of riches and consequence. 

The proposal which avarice made without a blush, 
love accepted with perhaps too much precipitation. 
We are not framing an apology for Jacob’s conduct, 
but delivering the features of his character, and the 
lines of his history, from the sacred record. But this 
much we may venture to affirm, that Jacob, left to 
himself, and to the honest workings of a heart inspired 
by the love of an inestimable object, would never have 
dreamt of a plurality of wives ; much less of assuming 
the sister of his beloved Rachel, to be her rival in his 
affections. It does not appear, that the solemniza¬ 
tion of Jacob’s marriage with Rachel, was deferred till 
the expiration of the second term of seven years. Pro¬ 
vided Laban got sufficient security for performance of 
the agreement, it was indifferent to him when the 
other got possession of the bride. It is probable, there¬ 
fore, that he gave way immediately to Jacob’s wishes; 
and the more so, that his business was likely to be ex¬ 
ecuted with greater fidelity and zeal by a servant and 
son gratified, indulged and obliged, than by one soured 
by disappointment, dissatisfied and irritated by unkind¬ 
ness and deceit. Behold then Jacob, at length, at the 
summit of his hopes and desires. After much delay, 
through many difficulties, which have strenghtened, not 
extinguished affection, Rachel is at last his wife. 

But alas, human life admits not of perfect bliss ! 
The seeds of jealousy and strife are sown in Jacob’s fa- 
Vol. I. 2 P 


298 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VII, 


mily. The wife who enjoyed the largest share of the 
husband’s affection, is doomed to sterility; the less 
beloved, is blessed with children. Thus, a wise and 
gracious Providence, by setting one thing against ano¬ 
ther, preserves the prosperous from pride and inso¬ 
lence, and the wretched from despair. Twenty years 
did Isaac and Rebekah live in wedlock without a child, 
though the inheritance and succession of all Abraham’s 
wealth and prospects depended upon it; whereas 
the family of Jacob, a simple shepherd, earning his 
subsistance by the sweat of his brow, the servant of 
another man, is built up and increases apace. The 
good things of life seem, to the superficial and dis¬ 
contented, to be unequally divided; but there is no 
balance so exact as that in which all conditions and all 
events are weighed. The great Governor of the world 
does not indeed conform himself in the dispensations of 
his providence, to the misconceptions and prejudices 
of short-sighted, erring men; but he is affording igno¬ 
rant, erring men, if they will but be attentive, perpe¬ 
tual cause to adore and admire his wisdom and justice, 
his mercy and faithfulness. Leah bears to Jacob, as 
fast as the course of nature permitted, four sons one 
after another; and, what is remarkable, not only is the 
hated wife first honoured with being a mother, but with 
being the mother of the two tribes destined to the priest¬ 
hood and to royal dignity; nay, the mother, remotely, 
of the chosen seed; a dignity after which every mother, 
since the first dawning of the promise, eagerly aspired* 
The fruitfulness of her sister violently excites Ra¬ 
chel’s envy. The partiality of Jacob to her, and all 
his profusion of tenderness, avail her nothing. She is 
unable to suppress her chagrin and mortification ; and, 
in the bitterness of her heart, forgets both the respect 
which she owed her husband, and the submission she. 
ought to have paid to the will of God. “ And she 
said unto Jacob, Give me children or else I die,” Gen. 
xxx. 1. Iiovv odiqus, how pitiable are the sentiments, 


LECT. VII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


299 


the looks and the language of passion, to the calm and 
dispassionate; nay, to the passionate man himself, 
when the fit is over, and passion has spent itself! “ iVnd 
Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he 
said, Am I in God’s stead; who hath withheld from 
thee the fruit of the womb?” Verse 2. What! and 
can the anger of Jacob be kindled against his Rachel, 
his first his only love; to obtain whom he cheerfully 
served fourteen years! My fair hearers, presume not 
too far on the fondness of the men who love you. Be 
calm, be moderate, be unassuming, be reasonable, be 
submissive, and ye are every thing. Be arrogant, im¬ 
petuous, self-sufficient, imperious, unreasonable, and 
ye sink into nothing. I tremble to think of the dread¬ 
ful length a woman will go to gratify her own spleen, 
and to mortify a rival. In truth she ceases to be a fe¬ 
male, where certain feminine points are to be carried; 
and the leading, distinguishing characteristics of the 
sex are lost and sunk in the feelings of the individual. 
What! the jealous, envious Rachel, who found her 
beloved husband had already one wife too many, to 
think of throwing another into his bosom ! But her too 
happy sister and rival is to be mortified ; and she cares 
not what pangs it cost her own heart. O my gentle 
friends, you are yourselves the framers of your own 
fortunes. Be yourselves, and I will answer for my 
own sex. But quit the ground on which God and na¬ 
ture have placed you, and you are indeed to be pitied. 
If I might venture to hazard an opinion, not altoge¬ 
ther unwarranted by the history, and which I am con. 
vinced by experience to be well founded—you much of. 
tener lose your object by over eagerness than by inat¬ 
tention. You may, now and then, succeed by ad¬ 
dress, or vehemence, or force; but you will succeed 
more certainly, and much more pleasantly with God 
and with man, by meekness, and gentleness, and sub¬ 
mission. 

Thus was Jacob most grievously wounded, there, 


300 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VII 


where he was most vulnerable; most violently disturb¬ 
ed there, where he promised himself perfect repose. 
Thus, our heaviest crosses arise out of our dearest 
comforts; and the pursuits of “ vanity,” issue in 
“ vexation of spirit.” Thus all things conspire to give 
full assurance to the children of men, “ that this is not 
their rest;” and invite them to seek “ another coun¬ 
try, that is a heavenly,” where “ there shall be no 
more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain,” 
and “ God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECTURE VIII. 

And it came to pass , when Rachel had born Joseph , that 
Jacob said unto Laban , Send me away , that I may 
go unto mine own place and to my country . Give: 
me my wives , and my children for whom I have serv¬ 
ed thee , and let me go: for thou knowest my service 
which I have done thee , And Laban said unto him , 
I pray thee , z/’ / /fove foundfavour in thine eyes , tar- 
ry,for I have learned by experience , r/?6 j J^ord 

hath blessed me for thy sake . ✓iwc/ /ze .saw/, appoint me 
thy wages , and I will give it. And he said unto hi?n y 
Thou knowest how I have served thee , and how thy 
cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hadst 
before I came: and it is now increased unto a multi¬ 
tude; and the Lord hath blessed thee since my co¬ 
ming : and now , when shall 1 provide for mine own 
house also.?— Gen. xxx. 25—30. 


There is no subject of contemplation more pleas 
ing, more instructive, more composing to the mind, 
than the wisdom and goodness of the Divine Provi¬ 
dence, in adapting and adjusting, with such con¬ 
summate skill, the understanding, the dispositions, 
and the exertions of men, to their various and succes¬ 
sive situations, relations, employments and fortunes. 
What so feeble, so helpless, so necessitous, as a new¬ 
born infant ? But its proper aliment has accompanied 
it intQ the world. Its first cry has awakened ten thou- 



3Q2 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


1ECT. VIII. 


sand fond affections in one, who, at the hazard of her 
life, brought it forth, and at the hazard of her life, is rea¬ 
dy to preserve it. What so giddy, rash, inconsiderate, 
as youth ? But the father is proportionably thoughtful, 
serious and attentive. IMan, of all animals, stands 
longest in need of support and protection ; therefore, 
natural affection in man is more intelligent and of 
greater duration than in any other creature. Instinct 
and reason unite their force, in aid of the lengthened 
infancy and childhood of the human race. Parents 
often, and unjustly, complain, that their care and ten¬ 
derness meet not with reciprocal returns of attach¬ 
ment and affection from their children; not consider¬ 
ing, that this current sets continually downward, and 
that the love which we bear to our offspring, nature 
has intended they should repay, not to us, but to their 
offspring. Do our children grieve and vex us with 
their levity, and thoughtlessness, and folly ? let us have 
a little patience. By and by they shall become fathers 
and mothers; and then shall they be cured of what now 
gives us so much uneasiness; and then shall they be 
grieved, vexed, and mortified, in their turn. 

The anxieties which Jacob’s dissension with his bro¬ 
ther occasioned to their fond parents are now thicken¬ 
ing upon his own head. In the last period of his life, 
we saw the honest shepherd following his simple em¬ 
ployment with cheerfulness and joy ; drinking delicious 
draughts of love from the approving eyes of his ami¬ 
able shepherdess; and beguiling the tedious months of 
servitude in converse with his Rachel, and with the 
prospect of that bright hour, which was to crown his 
hopes, and to reward all his toil. But those soft mo¬ 
ments have passed away, and vanished like a dream; 
their flight was not perceived; their value is understood 
and prized, after they are for ever gone. The cares,, 
and troubles, and apprehensions of a father now occu¬ 
py his mind. Jealousy and strife disturb his repose. 
Why multiply elaborate arguments against the prac- 


LECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


303 


lice of polygamy ? Look into the wretched disorder 
and discord of those families which have been built 
upon that unnatural system, and be assured it is not, 
cannot be, from Him, who loves the children of men, 
and all whose institutions aim at making them happy. 
The rival sisters, rather than not mortify each other, vo¬ 
luntarily mortify and degrade themselves, by raising 
their handmaids to a participation of their husband’s 
bed. Envy and revenge, if they can but hurt an adver¬ 
sary, regard not the wounds which they inflict at home. 
Unhappy Jacob ! my heart bleeds for him. His time, 
and labour, and strength, are at the disposal of a sel¬ 
fish, hard-hearted, insatiable father-in-law; his very 
person and affections are insolently settled, disposed of, 
and transferred at the pleasure of two jealous, w r rang- 
ling sisters: while, behold a family rising and increas¬ 
ing upon him, without the power or means of making 
any provision for it. The mind of his beloved Rachel, 
whom he had earned at the hard price of fourteen 
years painful service, is soured and chagrined by the 
want of one blessing. The labours of the field through 
the day, are not relieved at night by the tenderness of 
sympathy and love, but embittered and aggravated by 
womanish altercation and strife. What could have 
supported him but religion ? 

Leah has, at various intervals, borne Jacob six sons and 
a daughter : and Rachel’s grief and despair are at their 
height, when God, whose counsels move not, nor 
stand still, in complaisance to our desires or caprices, 
thinks meet to remove her sorrow and reproach; and 
she becomes the joyful mother of a son. What ingeni¬ 
ous pains the silly mothers take, to perpetuate the me¬ 
mory of their jealous sentiments and contentions, in 
the names which they impose upon their children ; im¬ 
piously presuming to drag in Providence as a party to 
their quarrel; foolishly and wickedly transmitting their 
contemptible hatred and animosity to the disturbance 
and distress of their posterity; and madly sowing the 


304 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VIII. 


seeds of a plague, which might one day break out and 
consume them! O how different the jealous spirit, 
which at first dictated the names of the twelve heads 
of the tribes of Israel, from that prophetic spirit which 
foresaw and predicted their future characters and situa¬ 
tions, as it breathed from the lips of their dying father: 
and from the mind of God, who was employing female 
spleen and passion, to declare his own purposes and 
designs. 

About the time of Joseph’s birth, it would appear,, 
the term of Jacob’s servitude had expired. He now 
therefore naturally thinks of the home which he had 
left so long before, and of the obligations which he lay 
under, to exert himself in the maintenance and provi¬ 
sion of his numerous family. He therefore modestly 
applies to Laban for his dismission. That greedy kins¬ 
man, well aware of the advantages which had accrued 
to him from Jacob’s diligence, fidelity and zeal, ex¬ 
presses much regret on hearing this proposal. But it 
is not regret at the thought of parting with his daugh¬ 
ters and grandchildren: it is not the tender concern 
of bidding a long farewell to a near relation and faith¬ 
ful servant. No, it is regret at losing an instrument 
of gain: it is the sorrow of a man who loves only 
himself. 

Hitherto, the profits of Jacob’s industry had been 
wholly his uncle’s. He had most ungenerously taken 
advantage of his nephew’s passion for his daughter, to 
reduce him to a mere drudge for his own interest. 
From a sense of shame, as well as a regard to interest, 
he is at length constrained to consent to Jacob’s sha¬ 
ring the fruits of his own labour with him. Laban’s 
craftiness had proved to hard for Jacob’s candour and 
integrity; but the wisdom of Heaven, at last, proves 
more than a match for even the cunning of a Laban. 
Jacob, whether prompted from above,. or instructed by 
natural sagacity, aided by experience, proposes as his 
hire, such a part of the flocks which he fed, as should 


LECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


305 


be, in future, produced of a certain description, “ the 
ring-strakcd, speckled, and spotted,”—which were so 
few in number, that they might rather be reckoned the 
sportings than the regular productions of nature. La¬ 
ban acquiesces without hesitation in this proposal; 
wondering in himself, I doubt not, that Jacob should 
be so simple as to make it. An entire separation is 
accordingly made, without delay, between the cattle 
of the description which had been stipulated, and the 
rest of the flock. They are removed to prevent all oc¬ 
casion of suspicion and complaint, to the distance of a 
three day’s journey ; and delivered into the custody 
of Laban’s sons, men too like their father to throw any 
thing into Jacob’s scale, either through good-will, ne¬ 
glect or carelessness. Jacob continues to tend the 
remainder of the flocks, pure from all mixture, and 
they were by far the greatest part of the stock, for his 
father-in-law. 

The device which he employed, and which seems to 
have been suggested to him in a dream, is well known 
to all who read the scriptures. It has been disputed, 
whether the success of it was in the ordinary course of 
natural cause and effect, or was entirely produced by 
a miraculous interposition in favour of our patriarch. 
Indeed, there seems in it a great deal of both the one 
and the other. That the female in the moment of 
conception should be more than usually susceptible of 
strong and extraordinary impressions, and capable of 
transmitting that impression to her young so as clearly 
to mark and distinguish it, is too fully proved by ex¬ 
perience, to be denied. But this happens too seldom 
in the usual walk of nature, to permit us to suppose 
that the extraordinary increase of Jacob’s cattle was in 
the mere current of things aided a little by human sa¬ 
gacity and skill. That one lamb or kid, should be 
marked with the streaks of the poplar, hasel, and ches- 
nut rods,” or, that one here and there through the flock 
should be thus distinguished, we can easilv believe to 
Voi. I. 2 Q 


306 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VIII, 


happen without a miracle. But that the great bulk of 
the young should bear this signature ; that as the im¬ 
pressing object was exhibited or withdrawn, the dams 
should conceive uniformly and correspondently, is, on 
no principle of nature and of art, to be accounted for. 
The finger of God is therefore to be seen and acknow¬ 
ledged in it. Thus was the condition of Jacob speedi¬ 
ly and wonderfully changed to the better: “ And 
the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, 
and maid-servants, and men-servants, and camels, and 
asses.” Gen. xxx. 43. And thus, the world is instruct¬ 
ed that he who fears and follows God, will sdbner or 
later find his reward. 

But it seems determined of Providence, that Jacob 
should never find a place of rest. Lately, he was 
poor and dependent, and thence anxious in his own 
mind, and liable to insult, and unkindness, and op¬ 
pression from others. Now, he is rich and prosperous, 
and thence exposed to hatred and envy. And envy, 
like a plague ora torrent, sweeps every thing before it. 
We may easily conceive with what watchful jealousy 
Jacob’s carriage and his charge were observed by such 
men as Laban and his sons. With what astonishment 
and indignation did they behold the best and most 
beautiful of the ewes and she-goats bringing forth no¬ 
thing but “ speckled and spotted !” Their rage and 
discontent are, for a while, expressed by sullen looks 
and secret murmurs only. At length they become too 
violent to be suppressed, and break forth into open 
scurrility and abuse. The tongue of the gloomy fa¬ 
ther indeed says nothing—What can he say ? But his 
averted looks, his glaring, dissatisfied, indignant eyes, 
fully declare the anguish that preys upon his heart. I 
confess I am malicious enough to enjoy it. I love to 
see the envious man goaded and stung by the lashes 
and snakes of his own dark, empoisoned conscience; 
because I love to see.mankind happy. It gives me 
pleasure to see the generous rival of a sordid miser, sur- 


iECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


307 


passing him in wealth, eclipsing him in estimation and 
success; galling him by his prosperity and liberality. 

Jacob, however, is unable to stand it. And, judg¬ 
ing it better for all parties that they should separate, to 
save himself the distress of encountering the bitter 
words and sour looks of unkind relations, and to spare 
them the misery of witnessing his growing prosperity, 
he proposes to return to his aged kind parents, from 
whom he was certain of meeting with a cordially af¬ 
fectionate reception. 

The dialogue which passed between Jacob and his 
wives upon this occasion, Gen. xxxi. 4 —16, lets us 
deeper into the distresses and discomforts of his pre¬ 
sent condition ; and exhibits the picture of a covetous 
mm in still livelier, but therefore the more odious co¬ 
lours, From it we learn, that the sordid father, not con¬ 
tented with exacting of his son-in-law, the rigourous 
performance of his hard bargain, according to the rules 
of strict justice, (and the justice of a miser is stern, un¬ 
feeling, and severe indeed) frequently had recourse to 
trick and chicane to over-reach and defraud him. No 
fidelity could please, no submission mollify, no attach¬ 
ment subdue, no tie of justice bind, no call of nature 
awaken his impenetrable, selfish heart. “ Ye know 
that with all my power I have served your father. And 
your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages 
ten times, but God suffered him not to hurt me,” Gen. 
xxxi. 6, 7. “ And Rachel and Leah answered and 

said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance 
for us in our father’s house ? Are we not counted of 
him strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite 
devoured also our money,” ver. 14, 15. Whom do 
men commonly cherish and love with peculiar tender¬ 
ness? Their daughters and grandchildren. For whom 
do men usually save, and gain, and lay up in store ? 
For their daughters and grandchildren But behold, 
here is a father who has sold his daughters for hire, who 
treats them as strangers to his blood, defrauds them of 


308 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. VIII. 


their undoubted right! Behold a grandfather taking 
pleasure, not in the innocent prattle, not in the dawn¬ 
ing genius, not in the increasing stature of the young 
ones who descended from his own loins; not in smooth¬ 
ing for them the rugged path of life, not in extending 
and brightening their prospects, not in rearing and es¬ 
tablishing their fortunes ! but, in diverting the streams 
of their subsistence ; but, in grasping to himself the 
hard-earned fruits of their father’s industry ; but, in 
undermining, counteracting, destroying their interests 
and their hopes! How happy it is for the world, that 
this vile passion is neither immortal nor omnipotent ! 

God is, in spite of Laban, fulfilling to Jacob the co¬ 
venant and promise he entered into at Bethel. Jacob 
had stipulated but moderate things for himself, “ bread 
to eat and raiment to put on,” whilst he was from 
home; and a peaceable and safe return to his father’s 
house ; and lo, an indulgent Providence has far ex¬ 
ceeded his expectations, and even his desires. But if 
he be increased, he is also encumbered ; if his stock 
be larger, so is also his care ; have his comforts multi¬ 
plied ? he is but the more vulnerable. A retinue, con¬ 
sisting of two wives and as many concubines ; twelve 
children, the eldest but thirteen years old, and the 
youngest under seven ; of the servants necessary to a 
family so numerous ; of a live stock so extensive, to be 
removed, and of the attendants absolutely needful for 
that purpose ; a family such as this, was in a condition 
very unfavourable to the journey which they are about 
to undertake, especially, liable as they were to be pur¬ 
sued and overtaken by incensed Laban; or, intercept¬ 
ed and cut off by the way, by the equally incensed 
Esau. But, Jacob is following the direction of Hea¬ 
ven, and therefore proceeds with humble confidence. 
What a destroyer of human comfort is wealth, that 
universal object of pursuit I See, it has alienated the 
affections of one man from his own family ; it has dri¬ 
ven another to flee from that person as an enemy, whom 


LECT. VIII. HISTORY OF JACOB. 309 

he had once sought unto as a friend. In one shape or 
another, this evil affection, the love of riches, is, I am 
afraid, at the bottom of the most of the ill we do, and 
of most of the ills which we suffer. 

Jacob, having communicated his intention to his fa¬ 
mily, and obtained their hearty concurrence, takes ad- 
vantage of Laban’s occupation in the business of his 
sheep-shearing, to steal away homeward. And he has 
the felicity of gaining three days journey, before the 
news of his flight have reached the uncle. But encum¬ 
bered as he was, this is but a slight advantage, if a pur¬ 
suit were attempted ; and he must be indebted for his 
safety, after all, to the protection of that God whom he 
was following, and not to his own wisdom, foresight, 
speed or force. 

Jacob, I dare say, was scrupulously careful to re¬ 
move nothing but what was, by a clear and undoubted 
title, his own. He who had repeatedly and patiently 
submitted to imposition and oppression, for the sake 
of quietness, was not likely to provoke enmity, and jus¬ 
tify vengeance, by robbery and plunder. But Rachel, 
in what view, and for what reason, it is not easy to de¬ 
termine, has “ stolen away the images which were her 
father’s. Many solutions have been attempted, of this 
strange and unaccountable piece of theft. Some of 
them I shall just mention, leaving you to form your 
own judgment of the matter. It is alleged by some 
Rabbins that she carried off the Teraphim or idols, 
lest her father by consulting them, should discover the 
route which Jacob had taken, and so pursue with the 
greater certainty of overtaking him. Some ascribe her 
conduct to piety and natural affection, as if she meant 
to make Laban sensible of the weakness of deities 
which would suffer themselves to be stolen away, with¬ 
out giving notice of such a design, and were incapable 
of making any resistance ; thereby hoping to detach 
her hither from the absurdity and impiety of idol wor¬ 
ship. Others, less chritably disposed towards her, re- 


310 history of jacob; lect. viii; 

present her as a true daughter of Laban, instigated by 
covetousness, to purloin the deities, for the value of 
the precious materials of which they were composed, 
or whereby they were ornamented. And Chrysostom, 
with almost every severity, accounts for the robbery 
from her predilection in favour of idolatry. 

Thus Jacob left his father-in-law : or to use the 
marginal reading, which is sufficiently warranted by the 
Hebrew words, “ stole away the heart of Laban the 
Syrianthat is, either he acted with so much pru¬ 
dence and caution, that Laban suspected not, fathom¬ 
ed not his design; or, he stole away that which was 
dear to him as his heart and soul, his precious, preci¬ 
ous wealth. The sequel abundantly justifies this latter 
interpretation. For Laban is no sooner informed of 
his son-in-law’s escape, than without the shadow of a 
pretence to molest him on his way, or to force him 
back, makes after him with a powerful body of his 
friends, if not to plunder and murder him, at least to 
oblige him to return. After seven days hasty march¬ 
ing, he overtakes him and his cumbersome train, in 
Mount Gilead; and he is ready to sieze on his de¬ 
fenceless prey. But, the God in whom Jacob trusted, 
plants around him a fence more impenetrable than the 
adamantine rock. Laban’s gods could not hinder them¬ 
selves from being stolen away by a sample woman, and 
packed up among other lumber, to be conveyed off: 
but Jacob’s God is watching and protecting hirp night 
and day; nay, watching his enemy too, to check and 
repress him. For the vision of the almighty, is not 
only with them that fear him, to direct and comfort 
them, but sometimes also with them that feur him not, 
to restrain, t© threaten, and to terrify them. 

God, in a dream by night, charges Laban, in a man¬ 
ner which he could not but understand, feel and re¬ 
member, charges him at his peril to offer Jacob any in¬ 
jury in word or deed; “ for when a man’s ways please 
the Lord, he maketh even his enemy to b6 at peace 


LECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


311 


with him.” Thus warned, he comes up with his ne¬ 
phew next morning ; and, like many, who when they 
ar galled by an ill conscience, endeavour to ease them® 
selves of its reproaches, by transferring the blame from 
themselves to the persons whom they have wronged; 
he reproaches Jacob with a conduct, which, he well 
knew, had resulted entirely from his own harshness and 
severity ; and upbraids him with unkind behaviour to 
his daughters, fully convinced all the while, that they 
had no ground of complaint against any one, so much 
as against their own unnatural, unkind father, who had 
counted them as strangers: “for he hath sold us, and 
hath quite devoured also our money.” 

It is pleasant to hear a miserly wretch talk of the 
liberal and generous things which he intended to have 
done, after the call and occasion are over, and his gen¬ 
erosity is in no danger of being brought to the test. 
41 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal 
away from me ? and didst not tell me, that I might 
have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with 
tabret, and with harp ? And hast not suffered me to 
kiss my sons and my daughters ? Thou hast now done 
foolishly, in so doing,” Gen. xxxi. 27—28. But truth 
will appear through the closest disguise. With all 
this pompous parade of kindness and affection, he is 
weak enough to avow the violent purpose with which 
he had undertaken the pursuit, and, from his father-in¬ 
law’s own lips, Jacob has the satisfaction to learn that 
he ow€|[ his safety to the kind interposition of a heaven¬ 
ly, not to the altered mind of an earthly parent. 

But, figure to yourselves Jacob’s surprise, when 
charged by Laban with having stolen his gods. If 
there was a thing about Laban’s house more odious 
and contemptible than another in his eyes, it was his 
Teraphim. He would justly have reckoned such an 
impure mixture among his goods as the corrupter and 
destroyer of the whole. His defence therefore is sim¬ 
ple, yet forcible; because it is the language of genuine 


312 history of jacob: lect. vinv 

truth, and of conscious innocence and integrity. I 
like Jacobi speech throughout, Gen xxxi. 36—42. 
It is the language of a good and honest heart. Your 
time permits me not to make any commentary upon 
it. Indeed it needs none. Observe only, in general, 
how generous is the fear which he expresses, lest La¬ 
ban should violently resume the wives whom he had 
given him. Some of them had been obtruded upon 
him by fraud, others by persuasion ; but they are the 
mothers of his children, and therefore he cannot bear 
to think of parting with them, though he might have 
been permitted. How noble is the disdain and indig¬ 
nation which he expresses, on being charged with the 
theft of Laban’s gods! How manly the recapitulation 
of his past services and sufferings! How bold the de¬ 
fiance he bids to malice and resentment! 

But, it discovers too much of a great and generous 
spirit, to be passed over thus slightly. I must there¬ 
fore take the liberty to resume it, and to enlarge a little 
upon it,—and now hasten to conclude, with this single 
idea, of the analogy which we never wish for a mo¬ 
ment to lose sight of. Jacob, leaving Canaan, solita¬ 
ry and poor, banished from his father’s.|iouse, and de¬ 
graded into slavery : and Jacob, returning, loaded with 
the spoils of churlish Laban, and blessed with a nume¬ 
rous, prosperous and increasing family, without a vio¬ 
lent stretch of thought, prefigures to us—Jesus, de¬ 
scending from heaven, and the original splendors of 
his nature; voluntarily depressing himself uito the 
form of a servant, and meekly submitting, for Season, 
and to accomplish a great and important purpose, to 
the want of the smiles of his heavenly Father’s coun¬ 
tenance ; and “ the glory that followed”—his triumph¬ 
ant return to heaven, adorned with the spoils of death 
and hell, and attended by an innumerable train of spi¬ 
ritual sons and daughters, acquired in a strange land, 
adopted into the family of God, constituted the heirs of 


LECT. VIII. 


HISTORY OF JACOB, 


313 


glory, and in due time to be exalted, together with 
their glorious Head, to heavenly thrones. May we, 
beloved, swell the triumph of that day, and find eter¬ 
nal rest from the toils and dangers of the way in the 
bosom of our Father and our God—Amen. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECTURE IX. 

And Jacob said, 0 God of my father Abraham, and 
God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto 
me, Return unto thy country , and to thy kindred, and 
I will deal well with thee : I am not worthy of the 
least of all the mercies , and of all the truth, which 
thou hast shewed unto thy servant: for with my staff 
I passed over this Jordan , and now I am become two 
bands . Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of 
my brother, from the hand of Esau: for / fear him, 
lest he will come and smite me , and the mother with 
the children, Gen. xxxii. 9, 10, 11. 


The man who is instructed to “ acknowledge God 
in all his ways,” and he only, has found out the road 
that leads to true happiness. The cup of prospe¬ 
rity wants its choicest ingredient when the love of our 
heavenly father is not tasted in it. The bitterest 
potion, when mingled by his hand, we can drink with 
confidence and cheerfulness. It is pleasant*to a man 
to see his own sagacity and diligence crowned with 
success.; But very imperfect is that pleasure.unless 
he can look up and say with submission and gratitude, 
“ the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he ad- 
deth no sorrow therewith.” There is a virulence in 
the ills which we bring upon ourselves, or which flow 
from the unkindness and injustice of others, that cor¬ 
rodes the heart, and depresses the spirit. But calami¬ 
ty the appointment of Heaven, calamity the discipline 




LECT. IX. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


315 


of a Father’s care and wisdom, brings its own relief 
along with it. The very poison, if administered by 
his hand, becomes its own antidote, and what threaten¬ 
ed to kill, effects a cure. 

It would greatly tend to improve our wisdom, to 
promote our piety, and increase our pleasure, to take 
frequent and particular reviews of our own life ; and 
to observe the changes which have taken place in our 
circumstances from time to time, in connection with 
the means and instruments which Providence more 
clearly or more obscurely has employed, and through 
which our enterprises have succeeded or failed.' Many, 
very many, have arrived at situations to which once 
in their lives they durst not have presumed to aspire. 
But their present elevation and prosperity, want their 
brightest ornament and their firmest support, if they 
be destitute of that spirit which good Jacob breathes 
in the words which I have read—that spirit which as¬ 
cribes every acquisition, every blessing to the wonder¬ 
working hand of indulgent Heaven. 

Few men have experienced greater varieties, greater 
reverses of condition than our patriarch. But we find 
him perpetually gathering strength from the hardships 
which he endured, siipporting a life of uninterrupted, 
unutterable affliction with patience and fortitude, suf¬ 
fering and feeling as a man but enduring and overcom¬ 
ing as a saint, and at length closing the extended scene 
of wo with the triumph of a believer exulting in the 
bright, unclouded prospects of immortality. 

One general remark may be applied to his whole 
history. His deepest distresses sprung out of his 
choicest comforts ; his most signal successes took their 
rise from his heaviest afflictions. The attainment of 
the birth-right and the blessing drove him into banish¬ 
ment ; the labour, watchfulness and anxiety of a shep¬ 
herd’s life conducted him to opulence and importance. 
The elevation which he too eagerly grasped at was the 
cause of his depression ; the humiliation to which he 


316 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. IX. 


voluntarily and patiently submitted became the foun¬ 
dation of his future greatness. The partial fondness of 
a mother exposed him to the unnatural unkindness and 
severity of an uncle ; the jealousy and envy of malevo¬ 
lent and selfish brothers-in-law forced him back to the 
calm delights of his father’s house. 

After twenty years hard service under Laban, which 
that ungenerous kinsman repaid with harshness, in¬ 
justice and deceit, but which God was pleased boun¬ 
tifully to reward by a numerous and thriving progeny 
and large possessions, he sets out secretly, in order to 
shun the mortification which he daily endured, for the 
land of Canaan. He is hotly pursued, and with hos¬ 
tile dispositions, by his father-in-law, and overtaken, 
encumbered as he was, on the seventh day in Mount 
Gilead. Providence once more interposes in his be¬ 
half and protects him from Laban’s fury. Charged 
with undutifulness and disrespect, and accused of a 
robbery which he would rather have died than com¬ 
mit, he defends himself with the spirit of a man, with 
the dignity of conscious innocence, and the awful su¬ 
periority of truth and virtue. Those who have a taste 
to relish the modest, manly, simple, pathetic eloquence 
of a good and honest heart, will, 1 am persuaded, find 
much pleasure in the perusal of Jacob’s reply to La¬ 
ban’s accusation. “ And Jacob was wroth and chode 
with Laban ; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, 
What is my trespass ? What is my sin, that thou hast 
so hotly pursued after me ? Whereas thou hast search¬ 
ed all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy house¬ 
hold stuff? Set it here before my brethren, and thy 
brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both. This 
twenty years have I been with thee ; thy ewes and thy 
she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of 
thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of 
beasts I brought not unto thee ; 1 bare the loss of it; 
of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by 
day, or stolen by night. Thus I was, in the day the 


iLECT. IX. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


317 


drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my 
sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus I have been 
twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen 
years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cat- 
tie ; and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Ex¬ 
cept the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and 
the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst 
sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine afflic¬ 
tion, and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yes- 
ter-night,” Gen. xxxi. 36—42. The power of 
truth is irresistible, and even Laban, though with an 
ill grace, is constrained to yield to it; and matters are 
at length amicably settled to their mutual satisfaction; 
To prevent as much as possible all future ground of 
fear and suspicion, a covenant of peace and good will 
Is ratified between them, with all the solemnities of a 
sacrifice, an oath, a monumental pillar, and a feast of 
love. In the whole of which transaction we cannot 
help remarking that Laban, the party who had the 
wicked intention and the guilty conscience, is the first 
to propose, and the most eager to employ the awful 
formalities of compacts, and promises and oaths. He 
knew that he himself needed to be thus bound, and 
therefore judges it necessary thus to bind the other. 
Laws are made for the violent and injurious, covenants 
for the false and perfidious. The light of an upright 
heart is its own law, the conscience of an honest man 
his own faithful witness, his own tremendous judge. 
What is the opinion of the world to conscious integri¬ 
ty ? “ The conscious mind is its own awful world.” 
Guilt is timorous, jealous and suspecting ; innocence 
bold, believing and generous-. Laban employs the 
most words : Jacob has the purer and more righteous 
intention. Laban does justice, not from a regard to 
duty, but through fear of detection and punishment : 
Jacob sptaks and practises truth because he loves it. 
The form of religion is employed by Laban to perfect 
the security which he wanted; Jacob scruples not to 


318 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. IX, 


superadd the form where he felt the force of the obli¬ 
gation. Laban swears that he might hold the other 
fast; Jacob, because he fears an oath, and is willing at 
once to satisfy the other and to bind himself. Laban, 
an idolater, calls to witness the gods whom the ances¬ 
tors of Abraham and Nahor served “ beyond the 
flood Jacob, a worshipper of the living and true God, 
swears by “ the fear of his father Isaac,” the God who 
has power to save and to destroy. 

The agreement being thus solemnly ratified, and the 
hour of separation at length come, they part with mu¬ 
tual satisfaction—Laban, with the self-gratulation of 
having made a virtue of necessity ; and Jacob, well 
pleased to have escaped so happily from a danger so 
threatening. Laban returns with his train to Haran, 
and we hear of him no more. And little does it signi¬ 
fy what became of an old miserly knave whose name 
had been better blotted out of every record than trans¬ 
mitted to posterity with so many notes of infamy upon 
it. Jacob goes on his way rejoicing toward Canaan, 
beloved of God, and respected of men. 

He has hardly bidden his father-in-law farewell, 
when we find the angels of God pressing forward to 
meet him, Gen. xxxii. 1. The history of these supe¬ 
rior beings, and of their commerce with mankind, is 
so brief, so obscure, and so figurative, as rather to ex¬ 
cite curiosity than to gratify it. It serves rather to fur¬ 
nish matter for speculation than to convey distinct, 
full and exact information. By the angels of God 
who are said to have met Jacob on this occasion, some 
understand merely human messengers, whether deput¬ 
ed from among his own attendants to examine the 
country through which he was to travel, or some 
friendly strangers directed that way of Providence to 
warn him of the approach of his brother Esau. But 
we cannot materially err by taking the words of Mo¬ 
ses in their literal acceptation and according to the 
more obvious sense which they convey. “ Where- 


LECT.IX. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


319 


fore should it be thought a thing incredible,” that the 
same merciful God who condescended to visit Jacob’s 
sleep at Bethel with a vision of angels ascending and 
descending from heaven to earth, to cheer and encour¬ 
age his solitary progress to Haran, should vouchsafe 
to bless his waking thoughts at Mahanaim with a visit 
of these ministering spirits in a bodily form, to be the 
image and the assurance of the divine favour and pro¬ 
tection in every hour of danger, in every time of need ? 
What had that man to fear from the rage of an incen¬ 
sed brother, though that brother were followed by an 
armed host, around whom “ the angels of the Lord 
encamped” in two hosts or bands. 

Whether the history in this passage is to be under¬ 
stood literally or figuratively, whether these angels 
were human or supernatural beings, this in either 
view, well deserves remark, that Jacob was not induced, 
in confidence of the vision, to neglect any duty of 
piety or of prudence. Piety dictates the address and 
recommendation of himself to the God of angels and 
of men, which we read in the opening of our discourse; 
and in this he chiefly rested his safety. And prudence 
made such a wise arrangement of his affairs, as might 
either gain a brother by kindness, melt him by sub¬ 
mission, or oppose him with success. The religion 
which, aiming at things uncommon, miraculous or pre 
ternatural, neglects or despises the plain tract of rea¬ 
son and revelation, is dangerous, and to be suspected. 
It ministers too much to human vanity ; it would es¬ 
tablish a standard vague, variable and capricious as the 
wild imagination of man; and, making every one in 
matters of faith a law unto himself, would depreciate 
the “ sure word of prophecy,” which yields a steady, 
uniform, and certain light, to illuminate a dark world. 

The disposition of his company, which Jacob made, 
in the view of meeting his brother either as a friend 
or an enemy, discovers the deepest wisdom and pene¬ 
tration. Every thing that might revive the memory of 


3.20 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. IX. 


their ancient grudge is artfully suppressed. If there 
appear any ostentation of wealth, it is wealth devoted 
to the use and service of a brother The message 
which was put into the mouths of the servants who 
conducted the drovers of cattle, to be successfully de¬ 
livered to Esau, is wonderfully calculated to turn away 
the wrath of an angry man, “ my Lord Esau,” “thy 
servant Jacob.” And the present, judiciously intend¬ 
ed to disarm and mollify him, is, with equal judgment, 
exhibited and tendered not all at once, but slowly and 
gradually; insensibly to steal upon his heart, and im- 
preceptibly to lull all his resentments asleep. He ap¬ 
pears voluntarily paying a tribute of duty and affec¬ 
tion as to his sovereign, not haughtily exacting sub¬ 
mission and acknowledgment as from his vassal. Fear 
for his own life had driven him, twenty years ago, from 
the face of Esau, and now that his being is, as it were, 
multiplied in the persons of so many, dear to him as 
his own soul, his apprehension increases in proportion. 

We cannot but observe, though we need not much 
wonder at, the partiality discovered in settling the or¬ 
der of this domestic procession. The beloved wife 
and her darling son are placed in the rear, farthest 
from danger, if danger there were, because first in the 
attention and respect of the fond husband and father. 
Unhappy Jacob! whether shall we pity or blame thee ? 
In this management, I see the dawnings of that unwise 
and unfortunate preference, which afterwards raised 
such a tempest in the family, and pierced through the 
paternal heart with so many sorrows. 

The thirty-second chapter of this sacred book con¬ 
cludes with the history of an event in Jacob’s life, so 
very singular and mysterious, as to baffle interpreta¬ 
tion, and defy criticism. I mean, his wrestling with 
a person unknown, in the form of a man, whom he af¬ 
terwards describes as God, and against whom he pre¬ 
vailed in the contest. If this transaction is to be un¬ 
derstood according to the letter of the narration, the 


L£C!\ IX, HISTORY OF JACOB. 321 

Spirit of God has seen meet to withhold the knowledge 
of some particulars which are necessary to a clear and 
distinct comprehension of it; and the inquirer is stopt 
short, with the reply of the angel who wrestled, to 
Jacob’s request, “ Tell me I pray thee thy name 
“ Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name V ’ 
Gen. xxxii. 29. 

The figurative meaning, and the practical intention 
and application, are more obvious: and it is this in¬ 
deed with which we have chiefly to do. Jacob was 
that very morning to meet Esau, his brother, who was 
advancing toward him, at the head of four hundred 
men. Uncertain of his disposition and intentions, con¬ 
scious of having given him much cause of offence, and 
apprized of the menacing and resentful language which 
he had formerly held concerning him, he shudders to 
think of the consequences of this formidable rencoun¬ 
ter. And, having first poured out his soul to God in 
such a dreadful emergency, and then adopted the 
measures for safety which wisdom and the necessity of 
his situation suggested, he again, it is natural to sup¬ 
pose, might have recourse to earnest prayer and sup-, 
plication, and continue in it during a great part of the 
night and morning. This, in the forcible and figura¬ 
tive phrase of oriental language, might be expressed 
“ by his wrestling” with God “ to the dawning of the 
dayand is at length prevailing so far as to obtain 
from God some sensible sign or token, to assure him 
he should be carried through this, as through his other 
dangers and distresses, undestroyed, unhurt. The 
sign given him was calculated at once to express ap¬ 
probation of his faith, fortitude and perseverance ; and 
to convince him of his inferiority and weakness. The 
unknown wrestler, though seemingly foiled in the com¬ 
bat, by a simple touch dislocates a joint in the hollow 
of Jacob’s thigh, and thereby disables him from conti¬ 
nuing the struggle. Might not the wisdom of God be 
employing such mystical representation and expression 
VoL I. ' 2 S 


322 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. IX* 


to instruct men in the nature of prayer, and to enforce 
the obligation of it?” “ To the end that we should 
pray always and not faint.” Do we prevail in our ap¬ 
plications at the throne of grace ? It is because our hea¬ 
venly Father is disposed to yield, and stands out only 
to heighten our exertions, and call forth our importu¬ 
nity. Have we “ power with God, and prevail ?” Then* 
what is man who shall die, and the son of man who is a 
worm ?” Did Jacob sink and fail in the very moment of 
victory ? We are just what God makes or permits us 
to be. 

Whatever were the real circumstances of this extra¬ 
ordinary scene, it procured Jacob a new and an honour¬ 
able name, which obliterated to his posterity, if not 
altogether to himself, that less honourable appellation 
which commemorated a little, though significant inci¬ 
dent attending his birth, and which recorded the infa¬ 
my of his unfair dealings with his father and brother; 
Jacob the supplanter, is transformed into Israel , a 
prince-with God. 

The vision of the Almighty is scarcely at an end, 
when the interview with Esau takes place. And we 
are then fittest for every service, for every trial, when 
we have settled matters with Heaven. He, who by a 
touch disjointed Jacob’s thigh, could by a word have 
scattered Esau’s host. But behold a greater miracle ! 
By a simple act of his sovereign will, he has in a mo¬ 
ment changed Esau’s heart. They meet, they converse, 
they love, as brothers ought to do. And “ O how 
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell toge- 
their in unity l” We apprehended a strife of fierce and 
angry looks, of reproachful words, of violence and 
blood. But how joyful the disappoinment! Behold a 
contention of kindness, a blessed contest of affection; 
the honest, heart-melting triumph of nature, the noble 
victory of goodness. Let the proud and the resentful 
peruse, with care, this inimitable scene of tenderness, 
painted in colours so bright and so touching by the pen- 


LECT. IX. HISTORY OP JACOB. 323 

cii of inspiration, Gen. xxxiii. 4—15, and say, whe¬ 
ther it be possible for any gratification of revenge, any 
depression of a hated rival, any triumph of violence and 
blood, to yield any thing that deserves the name of 
joy, compared with the sweet satisfaction which must 
have filled the bosoms of this pair of brothers, burying 
animosity and discord in mutual endearments, and ex¬ 
pressions of good will. Ah, why should so many 
wretched brothers as there are of us, pass through a 
world in which there is so much unavoidable misery, 
estranged from one another ; or madly wantonly, wick¬ 
edly interrupt and disturb each other’s passage, by bit¬ 
terness and wrath ! What wretched things are wealth, 
and pomp, and state, and power, which will not permit 
brothers to live together in love as they mighty and as, 
but for one or other of these disturbers of human quiet, 
they would do! 

Such scenes as that which now passed between Ja¬ 
cob and Esau ought to have been perpetual But alas 
it cannot be ! Esau must return to his possession in 
Mount Seir that very day ; and Jacob pursue his jour¬ 
ney to Canaan. The paternal roof must no more co¬ 
ver their heads again at one time, nor the affectionate 
parents enjoy the supreme felicity of witnessing their 
reconciliation, and of strengthening it by their bless¬ 
ing and their prayers. Let the lower ranks of man¬ 
kind rejoice, that a gracious Providence, in withhold¬ 
ing from them affluence, and station, and distinction, 
has left them a blessing greater than all put together, 
friendship, and the means of exercising and enjoying 
it. Parents, as you love your children, and wish to 
have them near you, and to bless you with a sight of 
their health and prosperity, be moderate in your views 
and efforts concerning them. Prospect of ambition, 
or of avarice, will of necessity banish them from your 
sight, wifi separate them from each other, will scatter 
them upon the face of the earth. 

Jacob, by slow movements, as the delicate condition 


324 HISTORY OF JACOB. LfcCT. IX. 

bf part of his retinue required, advances homewards 
in a south west direction from the ford of Penuel, on 
the south bank of the Jabbok, towards Jordan ; and ar¬ 
rived safe at the ford of Succoth. So colled from the 
booths which he erected there, for a temporary repose 
to himself and family, in the plains of Jordan, about 
twelve or fifteen miles from Penuel; ten miles south 
of the sea of Galilee; and five south of the Jabbok, 
where it runs into Jordan ; a city afterwards assigned 
by lot to the tribe of Gad. After resting at Succoth 
about a month, he proceeds to travel from Jordan west 
and by south about thirty-five miles, and arrives, in 
peace and safety, according to the promise and cove¬ 
nant of the God of Bethel, which was ratified more than 
twenty years before at Sechem.. the city of Hamor the 
Hivite; of whom fie bought a field, in the same place 
where Abraham first pitched his tent upon coming into 
Canaan. And there Jacob erected an altar, and dedi¬ 
cated it by the name of El-Elohe-Israel, God , the God 
of Israel. Now this event happened in the year of the 
world two thousand two hundred and sixty-six ; before 
Christ, one thousand seven hundred and thirty eight; 
after the fiood, six hundred and ten ; from the peregrin¬ 
ation of Abraham, one hundred and eighty-three ; be¬ 
fore Jacob’s descent into Egypt, thirty-two; before the 
going out of the children of Israel from Egypt, two 
hundred and forty-seven ; and in the year of Jacob’s 
life, ninety-eight. Isaac, his aged father, living then 
at Beer-sheba, one hundred and fifty-seven years old. 
And this naturally furnishes another resting place in the 
history of our patriarch. 

The next Lecture, if God permit, will resume the 
subject, and carry it forward to a conclusion. We de¬ 
tain you only for a moment or two, to suggest a few 
thoughts on the analogy of Jacob and Christ from this 
portion of the scripture history. How beautifully and 
how exactly does the account which Jacob gives of 
himself as a shepherd correspond to the character of 


l£cT. ix. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


325 


x< the good shepherd who giveth his life for the sheep !” 

“ This twenty years have I been with thee : thy ewes 
and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the 
rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was 
torn of beasts, I brought not unto thee: I bare the loss 
of it. Of my hand didst thou require it, whether 
stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus i was, in the 
day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, 
and my sleep departed from mine eyes,” Gen. xxxii. 
38—40. “ And he said unto him, my lord knoweth 

that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds 
with young are with me: and if men should over-drive 
them one day, all the flock will die. Let my lord, I 
pray thee, pass oyer before his servant: and I will lead 
on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me, 
and the children, be able to endure ; until I come unto 
my lord unto Seir,” Gen. xxxiii. 13—14. “ He shall 
feed his flock like a shepherd : he shall gather the lambs 
with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall 
gently lead those that are with young,” Isa. xl. 11. 
Angels, thus ministering to the heir of the promise, at 
Bethel, at Mahanaim lead our thoughts directly to the 
annunciation , the nativity , the temptation in the wilder¬ 
ness, the agony in the garden, the resurrection the as¬ 
cension the second coming of our blessed Lord. The 
wrestling at Peniel, is a strong figurative description 
of the powerful and prevalent intercession of the Prince 
with God, Messiah himself, whose language is not 
“ Father I beseech thee,” but “ Father I will.” Ja¬ 
cob’s safe and happy return to Canaan, and to his 
father’s house, every enemy being subdued either by 
fear or by love, accompanied with two bands of sons 
and daughters wherewith God had enriched him in the 
land where he was a stranger, and where he had been 
humbled, and oppressed—prefigures, as has been sug¬ 
gested in a former discourse, the triumphant return of 
the great Captain of salvation, to his father’s house 
above, loaded with the spoils of principalities and pow- 


326 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. IX. 


ers: the power of hell vanquished by force, an elect 
world redeemed and rescued by love. “His right 
hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory :” 
“ he shall reign till he hath put all enemies under his 
feet,” “ sing praises to his name, sing praise.” “ Thou 
has ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, 
thou hast received gifts for men: yea, for the rebellious 
also, that the Lord God might dwell among them,” 
PsaL lxviii. 8. Unto him that loved us and washed us 
from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings 
and priests unto God and his Father : to him be glory 
and dominion forever and ever.” Amen. Rev. i. 5, 6. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECTURE X. 

And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye be¬ 
reaved of my children : Joseph is not , and Simeon is 
not , and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things 
are against me. And Reuben spake unto his father, 
saying , Slay my two sons , if I bring him not to thee: 
deliver him into my hand , and I will bring him to 
thee again . And he said , My son shall not go down 
with you ; for his brother is dead , and he is left alone : 
if mischief befal him by the way in which ye go, then 
shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the 
grave , Gen. xlii. 36, 37, 38. 

Jt is a pleasing and a useful employment to trace 
important events up to their sources; to mark the 
gradual progress of human affairs ; to observe the same 
persons at different periods of their existence, and in 
different situations; to discover on what delicate hin¬ 
ges their fortunes have turned; and to contemplate the 
wisdom, power and goodness of Divine Providence, in 
producing the greatest effects from the slightest and 
most unlikely causes. There is no greater error in 
conduct, than to reckon certain actions relating to mo¬ 
rals, trifling and insignificant. When revolutions in 
private families, and in empires, are pursued up to the 
springs from whence they flow, they are often found 
to commence in some little error, inadvertency, or folly 
which, at the time, might have been despised or neg¬ 
lected. Just as mighty rivers begin their course in 



328 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. X. 


some paltry obscure streams, which the peasant could 
dry up with the sole of his foot. The past is infinitely 
less perspicuous to the eye of human understanding, 
than the future is to divine intelligence. God “ seeth 
the end from the beginning, saying, My council shall 
stand, and I will fulfil all my pleasure.” The periods 
which make the most brilliant figure in the page of 
history, were periods of anxiety and trouble to the men 
and the nations who then figured on the scene. A life 
of many incidents is a life of much distress. When 
the writer has got a great deal to relate, the person 
whose life is recorded has had a great deal to suffer. 

Much more is written of Jacob than of any other of 
the patriarchs. Alas! it is only saying that his mis¬ 
eries were much more numerous and severe. If a life 
shorter than his father’s by thirty-three years, calamity 
so crouded upon calamity, that it seems extended to 
the utmost stretch of even antediluvian longevity. 
What hour of his mature age is free from pain and sor¬ 
row ? Not one ! In what region does he find repose ? 
No where. Canaan, Haran, Egypt are to him almost 
equally inclement. As a son, a servant, a husband, 
a father; in youth, in manhood, in old age; he is unre¬ 
mittingly afflicted. And no sooner is one difficulty sur¬ 
mounted, one wo past, than another and a greater 
overtakes him. Formerly he had youthful blood and 
spirits to encounter and to endure the ills of life. Hope 
still cheered the heart, and scattered the cloud. But 
now, behold the hoary head sinking with sorrow to the 
grave; the spirit oppressed, overwhelmed, with a sea 
of trouble. Keen recollection summons up the ghost 
of former afflictions, and past joys recur, only to remind 
him that they are gone for ever; and black despair ob¬ 
scures, excludes the prospect of good to come. What 
heart is not wrung, at hearing a poor old man closing 
the bitter recapitulation of his misfortunes, in the words 
I have read, “ All, all these things are against me?” 


LECT. X. HISTORY OF JACOB. 329 

Perhaps the life of no other man affords a like in- 
stance of accumulated distress. The mournful detail 
of this evening will present, collected within the com¬ 
pass of not many months, a series of the heaviest afflic¬ 
tions that ever man endured; and all springing up 
out of objects, in which the heart naturally seeks and 
expects to find delight. An only daughter dishonour¬ 
ed — his eldest hope stained with incest—Simeon and 
Levi polluted with innocent blood — Judah joined in 
marriage to a woman of Canaan, and a father by his 
own daughter-in-law—Joseph torn in pieces by wild 
beasts—his beloved Rachel lost in childbirth—his ven¬ 
erable father removed from him in the course of na¬ 
ture—the miserable wreck and remains of his family 
ready to perish with famine. Simeon a prisoner in 
Egypt—and Benjamin, the only remaining pledge of 
his Rachel’s love, demanded and forced to be given 
up. What sorrow was ever like this sorrow ? “ This 
is the man who hath seen affliction by the rod of his 
wrath.” And does all a partial mother’s fondness; 
do all a father’s blessings, wishes and prayers ; do all 
the promises and predictions of Heaven issue in this ? 
“ If in this life only there were hope,” who so misera¬ 
ble as God’s dearest children ? Whose lot is so much 
to be deplored as that of the son of Isaac ? 

Jacob, after an absence of more than twenty years, 
has returned to the land of his nativity. A guardian 
Providence has protected and delivered him from his 
avowed enemies, from Laban, and from Esau; but the 
most dangerous enemies of his repose are still nearer 
to him, they “ are those of his own house.” He has pur¬ 
chased an estate, he has spread his tent, he has erected his 
altar; “ his mountain stands strong,” what can move 
him ? From what slight beginnings do great events arise 1 
Dinah, the daughter of Jacob prompted by female vani¬ 
ty, curiosity, or some other motive equally deserving 
blame, ventures, unattended, beyond the verge of the 
paternal superintendance and protection, and falls into 
Vol. I. 2 T 


330 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. X. 


danger and shame. She went out, says the scripture, 
<£ to see the daughters of the land.” Josephus affirms, 
that she was attracted by the celebration of a great 
public festival, according to the manners of the coun¬ 
try. Her youth, innocence and inexperience inspire 
confidence ; novelty awakens curiosity ; beauty tempts, 
opportunity favours, and virtue is lost. From the first 
transgression, down to this day, female disgrace and 
ruin have begun in the gratification of an immoderate 
desire to see, and to know, some new thing ; from an 
inclination to exhibit themselves, and to observe others. 
One daughter of Israel is much more likely to be cor¬ 
rupted by communication with many daughters of Ca¬ 
naan, than they are to be improved by the conversa¬ 
tion of that one. There is much wisdom, my fair 
friends, in keeping far, very far within your bounds. 
There is danger, great danger, in advancing to the ut¬ 
most limit of liberty and virtue. For, the extreme 
boundary of virtue is also the extreme boundary of 
vice; and she who goes every length she lawfully may, 
is but half a step from going farther than she ought, or 
perhaps than she intended. 

Desire is commonly extinguished by gratification : 
but it is also sometimes inflamed by it. And so it was 
with Shechem. The first disorder of his passion and 
its effects, are not more to his shame, than the repar¬ 
ation which he intended and attempted, is to his honour. 
Indeed, if we except the leading step in this transac¬ 
tion, the whole proceeding on the part of the young 
prince is noble and generous to a high degree; and 
loudly reproves and strikingly exposes the cool, the 
cruel, the remorseless seducers of a Christian age, and 
of a civilized country. 

The unhappy father receives the news of his daugh¬ 
ter’s dishonour with silent sorrow. And how often does 
he wish in the sequel, that he had for ever buried his 
grief in his own heart ? Hamor readily adopts the views 
of his son, disdains notthe alliance of a shepherd, courts 


LECT. X. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


331 


Dinah, though humbled, with all the respect due to a 
princess, and all the munificence becoming one who 
was himself a sovereign. Those who are fathers, who 
have daughters for whom they feel, or for whom they 
fear, will judge of Jacob’s satisfaction at this proposal. 
To have the wound which had been made in the fond 
paternal heart, instantly closed up; the stain cast up¬ 
on his name, wiped clean away ; his darling child’s 
peace and reputation restored ; an honourable alliance 
formed with a wealthy, virteous and generous prince ; 
a whole people proselyted from idols to the God of Is¬ 
rael. How many sources of exquisite satisfaction ! Is 
the black cloud over Jacob’s head going for once to de¬ 
scend in refreshing drops, is it going for once to burst 
and disperse itself into calmness and serenity ? Alas, 
alas! the tempest is only gathering thicker around 
him; and dreadful must the discharge of it be. I 
shudder as I proceed. 

Simeon and Levi, tw 7 o brothers german of Dinah, 
and who, on that account, think themselves peculiarly 
concerned in the vindication of their sister’s honour, 
affect to receive Shechem’s overtures with complacen¬ 
cy. They have no scruples but what arise from reli¬ 
gion. Let these be removed, and the way is cleared 
at once. Deep, designing, dissembling villains ! The 
ordinance of God is in their mouths, the malice of 
the devil lies brooding in their hearts. They recom¬ 
mend a sacrament, and they are preparing a sacrifice, 
a horrid human sacrifice, of many victims. 

There is not a more singular fact in all history, than 
the ready compliance of the whole inhabitants of She- 
chem with the proposal of changing their religion, and 
of receiving, at so late a period in life, the painful 
sign of circumcision. Great must have been the au¬ 
thority which Hamor had over them, or great the af¬ 
fection which they bore him. Unhappy man! he 
practiced a little deceit in stating the case to his peo¬ 
ple, but was himself much more grossly deceived* 


332 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. X a 


And I greatly question whether he had prevailed, had 
not the temptation of Jacob’s cattle and other sub¬ 
stance been held out as a motive to obtain their con¬ 
sent. Comply however they did—and it proved fatal 
to them. For on the third day, the two sons of 
Jacob already mentioned, attended probably by a 
band of their friends and servants, rushed upon them, 
and but them all to the sword. “ Cursed be their an¬ 
ger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: 
I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Is¬ 
rael,” Gen. xlix. 7. We no where meet with an in¬ 
stance of more savage, indiscriminating barbarity. For 
the offence of one, a whole nation is mercilessly cut 
off, and rapine closes the scene of blood. For they 
plundered the city, and carried off* the wretched wo¬ 
men capiive whose husbands they had murdered. Hor¬ 
rid, infernal passion 1 And how is Dinah’s honour re¬ 
paired by this ? And these simple, easy, believing men, 
these harmless, unoffending women, what had they 
done ? Daughters of Canaan, deadly have ye bought 
the favour of a visit from Jacob’s daughter. Idle and 
unhallowed was the opening of the scene, and dread¬ 
ful has the conclusion been. I should not have been 
surprised to hear of a confederacy among all the neigh¬ 
bouring states, to exterminate such a band of robbers 
and murderers from the face of the earth. Jacob is 
justly alarmed with the apprehension of this, and, warn¬ 
ed of God, removes from the neighbourhood of She- 
chemto Bethel; a spot that brought to his recollection, 
calmer, happier days—when he was flying indeed from 
his country, without wealth, without a friend; but 
free also from the anxiety, vexation and care, which 
an increased family and abounding wealth have brought 
upon him. How much better is it to go childless, than 
have children to be the grief and plague of a man’s 
heart ? 

Being arrived at Bethel, where he had been blessed 
with the visions of the Almighty on his Way to Padan- 


LECT. X. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


333 


aram, he deems it a proper time and place to purge his 
family of every vestige of idolatry. It is no easy mat¬ 
ter to live in an idolatrous, or irreligious country, with¬ 
out losing a sense of religion, or acquiring a wrong 
one. This is one of the great evils which attend tra¬ 
velling into distant lands. Our young men who reside 
long abroad, whatever else they bring back to their na¬ 
tive country, generally drop by,the way the pious prin¬ 
ciples which were instilled into them in their youth. 
Some very nearly related to Jacob, I am afraid, had a 
violent hankering after the gods beyond the flood. 
Why else did Rachel steal away the images which were 
her father’s ? However that may be, Jacob now disposes 
of them in a proper manner, and buries every shred 
that could minister to idolatry, under the oak that was 
by Shechem. The conduct of Jacob’s sons had, of ne¬ 
cessity, awakened a hostile spirit in the country against 
him, which, had it not been providentially restrained, 
must have proved fatal to him. But “ the terror of 
God was upon the cities that were round about them, 
and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob,” Gen. 
xxxv. 5. 

About this time, a breach was made in the family 
by the death of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse; the 
threatening and forerunner of a much heavier stroke. 
For, just after they had left Bethel, as he was on his 
way finally to join his father with all his family, with 
a heart exulting, no doubt, in the prospect of present¬ 
ing to his venerable parents the wives and children 
which God had given him : Rachel, his much-loved 
Rachel, is suddenly taken in labour by the way side and 
dies, after bearing another son. Unhappy woman ! 
She falls a victim to what she had coveted so earnestly. 
“ Give me children, else I die,” in her haste, in the 
bitterness of her heart, she exclaimed. She obtains 
her wish, and it proves fatal to her. God, a right¬ 
eous God, gives her children, and she dies. Resent- 


334 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. X. 


ment at her vehemence and impatience is lost in sor- 
row for her loss. 

The history does not expand itself here, but simply 
relates the fact. Some causes are injured, not assisted, 
by a multiplicity of words. The feelings of the pa¬ 
triarch on this occasion are rather to be conceived 
than described. Rachel early, constantly, tenderly 
loved ; earned with long and severe servitude ; endear¬ 
ed by knowledge and habit, and rendered more impor¬ 
tant and valuable by fruitfulness, could not be lost 
without pain. It was natural for the dying mother 
to think of perpetuating the memory of her mortal an¬ 
guish, by giving the son whom she brought into life at 
the expense of her own, the name of Ben-oni. “ the 
son of my sorrow.” It was wise and pious in the sur¬ 
viving father, to preserve rather the memory of the 
benefit received, than of the loss sustained; and by 
the name of Benjamin , “ the son of my right hand,” to 
mark and record submission to, and trust in Provi¬ 
dence, rather than seek to perpetuate his grief, by re¬ 
taining the maternal appellation, which seemed to mur¬ 
mur at and to reflect upon the dispensations of the Al¬ 
mighty. Dying in childbirth, it was found necessary 
to bury her with greater expedition than the removal 
of the corpse to the cave of Machpelah permitted; 
though there the precious dust of Sarah and of Abra¬ 
ham reposed. And, as it is happily ordered by na¬ 
ture, Jacob amuses, soothes and spends his grief, which 
might otherwise have oppressed and spent him, in 
erecting a monument to Rachel’s memory. Thus, 
what the heart in the first paroxysms of its anguish, 
intends as the means of rendering grief lasting or con¬ 
tinual, gradually, imperceptibly, and most graciously 
extinguishes it altogether. 

While this wound was still bleeding, the patriarch’s 
heart is pierced through with another stroke, if not so 
acute, perhaps more overwhelming, Reuben, his eldest 
hope, raised and distinguished by Providence, placed 


LECT. X. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


335 


in the foremost rank among many brethren degrades 
and dishonours himself by the commission of a crime 
which modesty blushes to think of, and “ such as is 
not so much as named among the Gentilesa crime, 
which blended the guilt and shame of another with his 
own ; which could not make the usual apologies of 
surprise, temptation or passion for itself. But let us 
hasten from it. We can sit and weep a while upon 
the grave of Rachel; but from the incestuous couch 
of Reuben, imagination flies away with horror and dis¬ 
gust. What a dreadfully licentious, irregular and dis¬ 
orderly family is the family of pious Jacob ! Each of 
his sons is worse and more wicked than another. Ac¬ 
cursed Laban, I see thy infernal avarice at the bottom 
of all this disorder and wickedness ! It was that which 
first introduced a multiplicity of wives into Jacob’s 
bosom. It was that which created and kept up jar¬ 
ring interests in his family ; and gave birth to those 
unhallowed, disgraceful, headstrong passions, which 
disturbed his peace, pierced his heart, and dishonoured 
his name. 

An aflliction more in the order of nature, and. whose 
certain and gradual approach must have prepared the 
heart to meet it, at length overtakes him. After an 
absence of more than twenty years, he rejoins his aged 
father, now in his one hundred and sixty-third year, at 
Arbah, afterwards called Hebron, “ the city where 
Abraham and Isaac sojourned.” It does not appear 
whether Rebekah yet lived, or not. If she did, what 
must have been her feelings at embracing her long- 
lost, darling son; and at finding him so abundantly 
increased in children and in wealth? Pure and per¬ 
fect is the delight of a grandmother, as she caresses 
the young ones of a beloved child, the heirs and repre¬ 
sentatives of the husband of her youth, the supporters 
of his name, prospects and dignity. 

In presenting his family to his father, Jacob must 
have been agitated by various and mixed emotions. It 


336 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. X. 


was natural for the old {nan to inquire minutely into 
the events of his son’s life, during the tedious years of 
their separation; into the character and qualities of 
his grandchildren : into the state of Jacob’s worldly 
circumstances ; much more, into the state of his mind 
as a believer, and the heir of the promise. The an¬ 
swer to these parental inquiries most of necessity have 
awaked in the bosom of the wretched sufferer ten thou¬ 
sand melancholy and painful sensations; and torn 
open afresh those wounds which the lenient hand of 
time had began to close up. The hardships endured 
in Padan-aram; the severity, churlishness awd deceit 
of Laban, would rise again to view. And almost 
every child, as he presented them one by one to his 
sire, must have suggested some mortifying and distress¬ 
ful circumstance to wring his heart. Dinah, not in 
the bloom and dignity of virgin innocence, but humbled 
and dishonoured, robbed of that which makes youth 
lovely, and age respected. Simeon and Levi, her bro¬ 
thers, polluted with innocent blood; and Reuben, his 
“ first-born, his might, and the beginning of his strength, 
the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of pow¬ 
er,” stained with incest—Judah, his fourth son, who 
had began to built up a family of his own, but it was 
by a Canaanitish woman, Gen.xxxviii. 2—18—24, 25, 
26, whose progeny involved him in complicated guilt, 
and covered him with shame.—Joseph and Benjamin, 
fair as the opening blossoms of the vernal rose, and 
precious as the purple fluid which visited his sad 
heart—But alas! the highly valued stock which had 
shot forth these two lovely branches, is prematurely 
cut down and withered. His beloved Rachel is no 
more; and he is deprived of even the poor consolation 
of reflecting, that her sacred dust slept in the same tomb 
with that of his venerable ancestors. But to have the 
privilege of pouring his sorrows into the bosom of a fa¬ 
ther, was the alleviation if not the cure of them. And 
he, who by meditation, and faith, and prayer, had over 


LJECT. X. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


337 


come the world, and lived so long in heaven, was well 
qualified for administering the vivifying cordial to the 
fainting soul, to apply the sovereign balm to the aching 
heart of a son, who had been a still greater sufferer 
than himself. 

But the calamities of neither the father nor the son 
are as yet come to a period; and they have still to in¬ 
terchange sorrows for a loss more bitter and oppres¬ 
sive than any which they have yet endured. For, in lit¬ 
tle more than six years from their re-union; while 
Isaac, now one hundred and seventy years old, was 
patiently looking for his dismission from this scene of 
trouble, and preparing to enter the harbour of eternal 
rest—he is driven back upon the tempestuous ocean, 
and doomed to toil and grieve ten years more of a wea¬ 
ry life, deploring an affliction which admitted of no 
consolation, and which at length brought his white head 
with sorrow to the grave. At this period it was, that 
Joseph, beautiful and young, Joseph, the delight of 
God and man, Joseph, the memorial of Rachel, the 
pride of Jacob, the prop of Isaac’s old age, disappear¬ 
ed, and was heard of no more, till many years after his 
venerable grandsire slept in the dust. 

Jacob, sinking himself into the dust, under the pres¬ 
sure of a burthen which nature was unable to sustain, 
is at length called to perform the last sad office of filial 
affection, and to lay his hand upon the already extin¬ 
guished orbs of his honoured father; willing, and long¬ 
ing, I am persuaded, to have descended with him into 
the grave. But not the least eventful part of his histo¬ 
ry is yet to come. It will hence forward be blended 
with that of Joseph, which now solicits our attention. 
O could we but bring to the study and display of it, a 
small portion of that native simplicity, that divine elo¬ 
quence, that celestial energy, which glow and shine 
upon the page of inspiration ! with what delight and 
success should we then speak, and with what pleasure 
and profit should ye then lend a listening ear! 

Vol. I. 2 U 


338 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


LECT. X. 


The story of Jacob, as it proceeds, teaches many 
useful lessons for the conduct of life ; and opens many 
sources of religious instruction. Who would not ra¬ 
ther be honest, unsuspecting, believing Jacob, than 
dark, designing, selfish Laban? And yet, who does 
not see the necessity of blending the wisdom of the 
serpent, with the harmlessness of the dove ? We mourn 
to think on the prevalence of those fierjr and ungovern¬ 
able passions which separate, and scatter, and alienate 
those whom God and nature designed to live toge¬ 
ther, and to love one another; and which robs human 
life of many instances of felicity which might have 
been in it. Why should Isaac and Jacob have lived 
twenty years asunder, to their mutual discomfort and 
distress ? The vile spirit of this evil world arose ; the 
spirit of pride, emulation, ambition avarice, fear, re¬ 
venge, drove Jacob into a miserable exile; and left his 
father a forlorn, forsaken, anxious, blind old man. 
Happy that poverty, which permits the parent and his 
child to cherish each other, till the cold hand of death 
chili the heart. Happy the obscurity which excludes 
envy ; and forces not a man to be an enemy to his own 
brother! 

We have seen in the patriarch, a man like ourselves, 
“ bruised and put to griefthe image of “ one greater 
man,” “ a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” 
whose woes commenced in the manger , and ceased not 
till they were lulled to rest in the tomb . “ The Son 

of Man” who “ came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister.” l< The heir of all things” who emptied him¬ 
self, and voluntarily assumed “ the form of a servant.” 
“ And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which 
were in their hand, and all their ear-rings which were 
in their ears: and Jacob hid them under the oak which 
was by Shechem,” Gen. xxxv. 4. “ And Jesus 

went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those 
that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the chan¬ 
gers of money, sitting. And when he had made a 


LECT. X. 


HISTORY OF JACOB. 


339 


scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the 
temple, and the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out 
the changers money, and overthrew the tables: and 
said unto them that sold doves, Take these things 
hence, make not my Father’s house a house of mer¬ 
chandize,” John ii. 13—16. Jacob presented to his 
father a numerous and thriving offspring ; but many of 
them children perverse and corrupted, their father’s 
shame and sorrow. But when our spiritual Head 
shall present his redeemed to “ his Father and our Fa¬ 
ther, to his God and our God,” saying, “ Here am I, 
and the children thou hast given me,” the paternal eye 
shall discern in them u neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor 
any such thing.” Our Father in heaven ever lives, 
“ exalted that he may shew mercy our “ Redeemer 
liveth,” “ he is risen again, he is even at the right hand 
of God, he alsomaketh intercession for us.” 


HISTORY OF JACOB ANI) JOSEPH. 


LECTURE XI. 

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, be - 
cause he was the son of his old age: a,nd he made 
him a coat of many colours* And when his brethren 
saw that their father loved him more than all his bre¬ 
thren, they hated him , and could not speak peaceably 
unto him, Gen. xxxvii. 3, 4. 

THE history of mankind exhibits an unceasing con¬ 
tention between the folly and wickedness of man, 
and the wisdom and goodness of God. Men are con¬ 
tinually striving to outdo, to mortify, and to hurt one 
another; but a gracious providence, by opposing spi¬ 
rit to spirit, interest to interest, force to force, pre¬ 
serves the balance and supports the fabric. His sove¬ 
reign power and matchless skill, produce exquisite 
harmony from the confused, the contending, the dis¬ 
cordant tones of human passions. He controls and 
subdues a diversity, which threatened disorder, sepa¬ 
ration and destruction, into a variety which pleases, 
which unites, which cements and preserves mankind. 
And a more consolatory, a more composing, a more 
satisfying view of the divine Providence we cannot in¬ 
dulge ourselves in, that this merciful superintendence 
which it condescends to take of the affairs of men, and 
of every thing that affects their virtue or their happi¬ 
ness. The disorders which prevail in the natural 
world, under the subduing hand of Heaven, range 
themselves into order and peace. The convulsions 





LECT. XI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 341 

which shake and disturb the moral world, directed, 
checked, and counterbalanced by a power much 
mightier than themselves, subside into tranquillity, 
through the very agitation and violence they had ac¬ 
quired. “ Surely, O Lord, the wrath of man shall 
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt re¬ 
strain ” When the tumult is over, and the noise ceases, 
religion rears up her head, and says, in the words of 
Joseph to his brethren, “ but as for you, ye thought 
evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring 
to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive,” 
Gen. 1. 20. 

We are now come to a passage of the sacred history 
of uncommon beauty and importance. Whether we 
consider the simplicity and grace of the narration, the 
affecting circumstances of the story, the interesting and 
instructive views of the human heart which it unfolds, 
the many plain and useful lessons which it teaches ; and 
the mighty consequences, both near and remote, which 
resulted to the family of Jacob, to the Egyptian mo. 
narchy, and to the human race, from incidents, at first 
insignificant and seemingly contemptible, but gradually 
swelling into magnitude, embracing circle after circle, 
extending from period to period, till at length all time 
and space are occupied by them. 

Isaac was now as good as dead ; calmly looking for¬ 
ward to his latter end; alive only to sentiments of piety 
and of pain. And Jacob was, through much difficulty 
and distress, at last settled in the land wherein his 
father was a stranger; increased in wealth, rich in chil¬ 
dren, rich in piety, but advanced in years, and loaded 
with affliction, Jacob’s family, the salt of the earth, 
was itself in a very putrid and corrupted state; and 
the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel were themselves 
very bad men. The unhappy father endeavours to 
soothe the anguish arising from the ill behaviour of 
his grown-up sons, by the pleasing prospects which 


342 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT'. XI* 

the more amiable qualities of his younger children open¬ 
ed to him. 

The sacred historian introduces to us the favourite 
character of Joseph with wonderful art and skill. From 
the very first moment we become interested in him. 
He is the long expected son of beauteous Rachel—his 
mother was dead—he had now attained his seventeenth 
year—and he was the darling object of his father’s af¬ 
fection. Jacob’s affection, however, has not blinded 
him so far, as to bring up even his favourite in idle¬ 
ness. Little does that man consult either the credit 
or the comfort of his son, who breeds him to no useful 
employment: for indolence is the nurse of vice, the 
parent of shame, the source of misery. Unfortunately 
for him, however, Joseph is associated in employment 
with persons whose conversation was not likely greatly 
to improve his morals, and whose dispositions toward 
him did not promise much to promote his happiness; 
“ the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons 
of Zilpah, his father’s wives who alas ! seem to have 
inherited much more of the spirit of the bond-woman 
who was their mother, than of the free-man who was 
their father. What were the particulars of their ill 
conduct we are not told; but Joseph observed it, was 
grieved and offended, and reported it to his father. 

Jacob is not wholly irreprehensible in this. It was 
imprudent to trust a well inclined young man, at that 
delicately dangerous season of life, far or long out of 
his sight, and in such company. It was wrong to en¬ 
courage in Joseph a spirit of censoriousness and self- 
conceit. It was madness to add fuel to those resent¬ 
ments, which his ill-disguised partiality to this son of 
his old age had already kindled in the breasts of his 
other children. But his understanding seems quite 
blinded by love for the boy; and he proceeds from 
weakness to weakness. As if he had not raised up 
enemies enough to him, by countenancing in him the 
odious character of tale-bearer, he goes on to expose 


LECT. XI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 343 

him to the hatred of all the family, by dressing up his 
darling in “ a coat of many colours. ” 

What a foundation of mischief was here laid ! The 
brothers must have been much less inflammable than 
they were well known to be, not to have taken fire at 
this indiscreet, this ridiculous distinction. And Joseph 
himself must have possessed a mind much more firm 
and more enlightened than seventeen generally disco¬ 
vers, not to have felt at least some transient emotions of 
vanity, insolence and self-sufficiency, in being thus fa¬ 
voured above the rest. The father was therefore inju¬ 
rious to all, but most to himself. His house is now 
in flames, and he himself has fired the train. Parents 
as ye love your repose, as you value your children, as 
you would have them dwell together in unity, as ye 
would not put a dagger into a brother’s hand to shed 
a brother’s blood, guard yourselves well against partial 
affections: or if unhappily you have conceived them, 
conceal it from every eye; let not the favourite see it, 
let not his rival suspect it. Let reason, let religion, 
let that very partiality itself teach you to be wise and 
just. Parents, as ye prize the understanding, the virtue, 
the true dignity of your children, let them never be 
taught to think that dress confers consequence, that 
finery implies worth, that the body deserves more at¬ 
tention than the mind. Let not even your daughters 
be led, through your silly vanity, to believe that any 
part of their excellence consists in the splendor of their 
appearance. But still inculcate upon them, that a mind 
stored with virtues, with modesty, meekness, gentle¬ 
ness, patience, humility, is, both to God and man, a 
sight infinitely more pleasing than the most beautiful 
person adorned with jewels and lace, if these, or any 
of these be wanting. Let them know early, and hear 
frequently, that cleanliness and decency are virtues 
which they ought to acquire and practise; but that a 
curiously ornamented body is, to a discerning eye, no- 


344 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XI. 

thing but the indication, and the wretched tawdry co¬ 
vering of a naked soul. 

I think 1 see the ill effect of Jacob’s fondness on Jo¬ 
seph himself. What could have suggested those dreams 
of his own superiority, the recital of which was so of¬ 
fensive to his brothers, and which drew from his father 
himself check and reproof? Nothing but the petulancy 
of his waking thoughts, buoyed up by confidence in 
paternal preference and favour. It will be said, that 
they were intimations from above of his future great¬ 
ness and eminence. It is readily admitted. But of what 
stuff does the foreknowledge and power of God frame 
prognostics and predictions ? Sometimes, perhaps of¬ 
ten, of the violent propensities and desires of men’s 
minds. And many events seem to have been predict¬ 
ed, not because they are to come to pass, but they 
come to pass because they have been predicted. The 
dreams themselves are the natural working of a young 
mind, inflated by indulgence. The repetition of them, 
where they were sure to occasion disgust, marks a sim¬ 
plicity, an innocence, a boyish thoughtlessness and in¬ 
discretion, which it were cruel severely to censure, but 
which wisdom can by no means approve. And, the 
whole taken together, the prognostic with the realiza¬ 
tion, the cause with the effect, the prophecy with the 
event, form a wonderful and instructive contrast of the 
weakness of man, and the power of God; the meanness 
of the materials, and the magnificence of the fabric ; 
the feebleness of the instrument, and the force of the 
hand which employed it. 

Though Jacob was not altogether pleased with the 
spirit which these dreams and the rehearsal of them dis¬ 
covered, yet they had a very different effect upon him 
and upon his sons. They envied and hated him the 
more; he “ observed the saying.” Whether from a 
father’s partial fondness, or instructed by that Spirit, 
who afterwards disclosed futurity to him, down to the 
gathering of the people to Shiloh , he considered the 


LECT. XI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 345 

doubling of the vision, and its coinciding purport, as 
portending something great and good to his beloved 
child; and he sits down patiently to wait the issue. 
And we shall presently find it was hastening towards 
its conclusion in a course much more rapid, and by 
means much more extraordinary than any which he 
could possibly apprehend. 

By this time the power of Jacob’s family was grown 
so great, or the terror inspired by the cruel murder of 
the Shechemites was so far effaced, that his ten eldest 
sons adventure into the neighbourhood of that city to 
feed their flocks. The distance from Beer-sheba , were 
Jacob dwelt, being considerable; their absence being 
extended to a length of time that created anxiety, and 
though their apprehensions might, a solicitous father’s 
anxiety not being quite laid to rest, he thinks proper to 
send Joseph from Hebron, to inquire after their wel¬ 
fare and to bring him word again. Unhappy father 
and son! little did they think the parting of that day 
was to be for such a length of duration. Blind that 
we are to futurity! We “ cannot tell what a day may 
bring forth.” The last meeting, the last parting; the 
last coming in and going out; the last time of speak¬ 
ing and of hearing; the last of every thing must soon 
overtake us all. Joseph accordingly leaves his father’s 
house, never, never to return to it more, and goes forth 
in quest of his brethren. 

Our tender affections are now strongly excited for 
the hapless youth. A lad of seventeen, who had never 
till now been from beneath the protection of paternal 
care and tenderness; whose face “ the wind of Hea¬ 
ven” had never hitherto “ visited tqo roughlywhose 
spirit mortification had never galled, whose heart af¬ 
fliction had never yet pierced—-thrown at once into the 
wide world, missing his way in an unknown country, 
exposed to savage beasts, or more savage men : com¬ 
ing at length to the place of his destination, but disap« 
pointed of finding what he looked for there; and final- 
Vojl. I. 2 X 


346 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XI. 

ly falling into the hands of butchers, where he expect¬ 
ed brothers. If ever there were an object of compas¬ 
sion, it is now before us. I observe his young heart 
flutter with joy, when, after all his wanderings and 
anxieties, he descries his brothers, and their tents, and 
their flocks afar off*. I see the tear of tenderness rush 
to his eyes, while he delivers his father’s greeting, and 
tells the tale of his youthful sorrows and mistakes upon 
the road. I see his blooming countenance flushed 
with delight and satisfaction, at the thought of being 
again among friends, of having once more a protector. 
Ah cruel, cruel disappointment! They have been 
plotting his ruin, they have devoted him to death. He 
comes to them with words of peace, with kind and af¬ 
fectionate inquiries after their health and prosperity. 
They meet him with looks of aversion, with words of 
contempt and hatred, with thoughts of blood. 

The history of Jacob’s family exhibits a shocking 
view of manners and of society at that period. They 
digest and execute a plan of murder, with as much 
coolness as we would an improvement in agriculture, 
or an adventure in trade. It is no wonder the poor 
Shechemites found no pity at their hands, when they 
are so lost to the feelings of nature, humanity and filial 
duty, as to deliberate and determine, without ceremony 
or remorse, upon their own brother’s death. The 
trifling incident of the dreams lies rankling in their 
bosoms. “ Behold,” say they, “ this dreamer 
cometh.” Well has our blessed Lord cautioned his 
disciples against the use of contemptuous expressions 
one to another. For however slight and insignificant 
a hard or ridiculous name at first sight may appear, it 
proceeds from an unkind heart, and partakes of the 
nature of murder. 

It is no uncommon thing for men who have quite 
got over every scruple of conscience, and all sense of 
duty, still to retain some regard to decency ; and to 
respect opinion and appearances after the heart is be- 


DECT. XI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 347 

come perfectly callous. Though they can remorse¬ 
lessly resolve on shedding blood, they have not confi¬ 
dence enough to avow their violence and barbarity, but 
craft and falsehood must be called in, to cover their 
villany from the eye of the world. “ Come now there¬ 
fore, and let us slay him ; and cast him into some pit, 
and we will say, some evil beast hath devoured him : 
and we shall see what will become of his dreams,” 
Gen. xxxvii. 20. That there should have been one 
of the ten capable of conceiving and suggesting such 
a deed of horror, had been wonderful; but that only 
one of the ten should rise up to intercede for the un¬ 
happy victim, exceeds all belief. We almost lose the 
remembrance of Reuben’s filthiness in his good-natur¬ 
ed attempt to save his brother. If there were some¬ 
thing of deceit in the proposal which he made to the 
rest for this purpose, it was on the side of virtue, and 
calls at least for pardon, if not for commendation. 

Joseph was now at hand. And O how different his 
reception from what he fondly expected! “ They 

stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours 
that was on him. And they took him, and cast him 
into a pit : and the pit was empty, there was no water 
in it,” Gen. xxxvii. 23, 24. With truth has the 
wise man said, “ the tender mercies of the wicked are 
cruel.” The demons of envy and revenge have taken 
possession of their hearts. In vain he weeps, in vain 
he prays, in vain employs the tender names of father 
and brother, to win their pity. The coat, the odious 
coat, the badge of a partial father’s fondness, steels 
their breasts. They strip it oft' with more of savage 
joy than ever the doating parent felt of satisfaction in 
seeing him put it on, or the hapless youth himself in 
wearing it. The horror of being cast alive into a pit 
to perish with hunger, is not to be conceived, much 
less expressed. What must it then have been to a 
heart like Joseph’s, tremblingly alive to the keenest sen¬ 
sations of pain ; acquainted, till then, only with gentle- 


348 HISTORY OF JACOfi AND JOSEPH. LECT. XI. 

ness and indulgence, and now dreadfully awakened to 
perceive the full extent of his misery ? Instant death 
had been mercy to one in such a situation. As if 
they had done nothing, they sit down unconcernedly 
to eat bread. Savage monsters ! Could the moderate 
cravings of their own appetite fail to remind them of 
the wretched state of their poor brother ; fail to sug¬ 
gest the misery of perishing for want, and to awaken 
compassion in some gentle bosom ? Yes ; with his 
piercing shrieks yet sounding in their ears, with his 
piteous supplicating looks yet before their eyes, they 
indulge the commonest, lowest cravings of their own 
nature, and calmly consign him to a lingering death ; 
the bitterness of which was every instant increased by 
the slowness of its approach. And now, behold the 
darling of Jacob on the very brink of despair ; whefi 
Providence, wiser than they were cunning, and more 
powerful than they were wicked, interposes for his de¬ 
liverance. 

■It was so ordered of Heaven, that a travelling com¬ 
pany or caravan of Ishraaelitish merchants passed by, 
while they were at dinner, in the course of their traffic 
to Egypt. A thought occurred to Judah, whose heart 
now began somewhat to relent, that an opportunity of¬ 
fered of ridding themselves of their hated rival, with¬ 
out incurring the guilt of shedding his blood ; namely, 
that of selling him for a slave to the Ishmaelites ; who 
he knew would carry him along with them into Egypt, 
sell him over again for profit, and thereby for ever pre¬ 
vent the possibility of his return, to detect their vil¬ 
lainy, and renew his pretensions to superiority over 
them. 

No sooner was this proposal made than it was as¬ 
sented to. And they, who a little while before made 
nothing of taking away their brother’s life, with less 
scruple and ceremony still, take upon them to rob him 
of his liberty ; and, as if he had been a. bullock, or a 
kid from the flock, sell him for twenty pieces of silver, 


LECT, XI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 349 

into the hands of strangers. O the wonder-working 
hand of God ! The circumstances which lately seem¬ 
ed to poor Joseph so untoward and unfavourable, were 
working together for the preservation of his life, arid 
paving the way to glory. Had he not wandered in 
the field, his arrival had happened too early for the 
passing by of these merchants to save him. Had he 
found his brethren in Shechem, as he expected, in 
stead of Dothan, he had been out of the track which 
his deliverers took. “ Who can tell what is good or 
evil for a man,” till the end come, and the mystery of 
providence be unfolded ? These, to the eye of man, 
are little accidental circumstances. But they are a 
part of a vast arrangement, made by Him “ who 
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” 
to bring about a great purpose. There are wheels 
almost imperceptible in the great machine, which the 
untutored eye is apt wholly to overlook, but which, are 
indeed as necessary to motion as the largest and most 
obvious. 

Thus was the jewel of his father’s heart vilely bar¬ 
tered away as a thing of little value. Behold Joseph 
in the hands of the descendants of him whose “ hanc^s 
were against every man, and every man’s hands againat 
him,” and he is safer with wild Ishmaelites, than with 
bloody unnatural brothers. From avarice, if not from 
pity or affection, they will treat him kindly, that they 
may dispose of him to advantage. So much better is 
a merciful, or even a mercenary stranger, than an en¬ 
vious and cruel brother. Reuben, it appears, was not 
present at this consultation, bargain and delivery. He 
probably stole away, when the rest sat down to meal:, 
that by a round-about path he might arrive at the pit 
where Joseph was hid, and assist him in effecting hip 
escape, while the rest were otherwise employed. Bui 
he had made so large a circuit in order to avoid susi 
picion, that the sale was transacted before he came to 
the place, and his benevolent intention was thereby 




350 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XI. 

frustrated. He is the only one of the brothers who 
seems to have felt a single spark of pity for the unfor¬ 
tunate youth, or of concern for the distress of his aged 
parent. What then must his anguish have been, when 
he came to the pit, and found no Joseph there ? From 
his worst fears however he is soon relieved, and bad as 
it was, rejoices to hear that Joseph was only sold for a 
slave. 

By common consent it is agreed to conceal, if pos¬ 
sible, the whole of this dark scene. They must meet 
their father again, and to him something must be said 
for the non-appearance of his amiable, his beloved son. 
I am not more shocked at their first purpose of blood, 
than at their artful device to cover it, and their awful 
steadiness and fidelity to each other in guarding so well 
the dreadful secret. It proves what deep, what de¬ 
termined, what thorough-paced villains they were. 
And from such men does the Jewish nation glory to 
have sprung ! They stain the variegated coat, the 
cause of so much jealousy, with blood, which they in¬ 
tend shall pass with the wretched father for the blood 
of him that wore it: and they send it to Hebron as ac¬ 
cidently found in the field in that state, to carry its own 
doleful tidings with it. 

I cannot accompany this fatal pledge to the place of 
destination. Who can bear to witness the anguish of 
a miserable old man, sinking under the weight of ac¬ 
cumulated wo ? All his former griefs admitted of 
consolation. They were more directly from the hand 
of God, they were in the course of nature, they might 
be cured or endured. But this stab was mortal; it 
defied medicine, it mocked at length of time. He 
himself has had the principal hand in this great evil; 
and I fear, I fear he suspects the truth, though he says 
it not. Beautiful, too much beloved, ill-starred Rachel! 
once I pitied, now I congratulate thee. A gracious 
Providence has in kindness taken thee away from the 
evil to come. The sight of Joseph’s vesture dipped 


LECT. XI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 351 

in blood, must have proved fatal to thee, hadst thou 
lived to that day. To have lived till now, must have 
been to endure pangs more frightful than the agoniz¬ 
ing throes of chifd-birth, or the last dying struggles 
of dissolving nature. We hasten from a scene which 
the heart is unable long to contemplate, to land Jo¬ 
seph safely in Egypt—where being arrived, he is trans¬ 
ferred like a bundle of spicery, from the Midianites 
to Potiphar, an office! of Pharaoh, and captain of the 
guard. 

And here your time warns me to stop. And here, 
in the hands of that God who “ delivered him from 
the paw of the lion and the bear,” we deposit this 
precious trust, confident of its being restored, like all 
that we commit to God, increased in value, import¬ 
ance and utility. If the subject be pleasing to you, 
as it is to me, I shall hope to have the pleasure of re¬ 
suming it with you next Lord’s day. 

Jesus, the well beloved Son of God, came from his 
Father’s house above, to bring to us, his brethren af¬ 
ter the flesh, the gentle and affectionate commendations 
of his Father’s love. Instead of welcome, he met 
with reproach and scorn. “ He came to his own and 
his own received him not.” “ He was despised and 
rejected of men.” “ His familiar friend in whom he 
trusted, which did eat of his bread, lifted up his heel 
against him.” Judas, one of his own house, sold him 
for thirty pieces of silver. He was stripped of his 
vesture, his raiment was stained with blood. “ He 
looked and there was none to help.” “ He trod the 
wine-press alone.” “ He was holy, harmless, unde¬ 
filed and separated from sinners.” “ He was brought 
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her 
shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth,” Isa. 
liii, 7. “ It became him, for whom are all things, 

and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons 
ointo glory, to make the captain of their salvation per¬ 
fect through sufferings,” Heb. ii. 10. Men “ thought 


352 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XI. 

evil against him, but God meant it unto good, to 
bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people 
alive,” Gen. 1. 20 “ The counsel of the Lord stand- 

eth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all genera¬ 
tions,” Psalm, xxxiii. 11. To the attentive reader 
of the scriptures, these, and many such applications as 
these, of the history of Joseph, to the person, the char¬ 
acter, the office and undertaking of the Messiah, will 
readily occur. To the careless and unbelieving, more 
has been said than they will understand, regard, or ap¬ 
prove. We commend them to the mercy of God, 
and we implore a blessing on what has been spoken, 
for Christ’s sake. Amen. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECTURE XII. 

find the Lord was with Joseph , and he was a prosper¬ 
ous man, and he was in the house of his master the 
Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with, 
him, and that the Lord made all that he did to pros¬ 
per in his hand . And Joseph found grace in his sight, 
and he served him : and he made him overseer over 
his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 
And it came to pass , from the time that he made him 
overseer in his house , and over all that he had , that 
the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's 
sake: and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that 
he had in the house . and in the field. And he left all 
that he ha<! in Joseph's hand ; and he knew not ought 
he had, save the bread which he did eat: and Jo¬ 
seph was a goodly person , and wellfavoured, Gen. 
xxxix. 2, 6. 

Unless “ the heart be established by grace,” in 
prosperity it will be elated above measure, and in ad¬ 
versity will be ready to sink under the weight of its 
wo. A principle of religion preserves the balance of 
the soul, and guards it equally from rising into inso¬ 
lence, or falling into dejection. It has been disputed 
whether prosperity or adversity be the severer trial of 
the two. In order to determine the question, it is ne¬ 
cessary to kno w the character of the party who is tried. 

In some persons we meet with a stupidity, an insen¬ 
sibility of nature, on which change of circumstances 
Vol. I. 2 Y 



354 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XII 


makes no apparent impression. This endeavours to 
pass upon itself, and actually does pass upon superfi¬ 
cial observers, for moderation in success, and patience 
in affliction. But the rock is not patient, because with¬ 
out murmuring it bears the incessant dashing of the 
raging sea; neither does the snail deserve the praise 
of humility, because it attempts not to fly. That mo¬ 
deration is estimable, which, awake to all the advanta¬ 
ges of rank, and fortune, and success, offends not God 
by levity and ingratitude, nor man by haughtiness and 
pride. That patience merits admiration and praise, 
which feels, yet complains not; which sighs yet sub¬ 
mits. 

It is very natural for men to flatter themselves that 
they could support prosperity with wisdom and pro¬ 
priety. But I believe experience will evince, that 
while success tends to relax, weaken, and extinguish 
the religious principle, calamity, by teaching us our 
own weakness and dependance, awakens, strengthens 
and keeps it alive. The lot of most men alternately 
furnishes occasion for exercise in both ways. It is the 
office of genuine and solid piety, to instruct us “ in 
whatever state we are, therewith to be content“to 
exercise men unto godliness, which is profitable unto 
all things, having the promise both of the life which 
now is, and of that which is to come.” 

The amiable and illustrious person on whose history 
we entereo in the last Lecture, and which we are now 
to continue, affords a shining and affecting example of 
a mind unsubdued by the deepest distress and uncor¬ 
rupted by the highest degree of elevation. His afflic¬ 
tion commenced at an early period of life. It was, of 
its kind, peculiarly bitter and severe. It came from a 
quarter whence it was least to be apprehended; and 
the transition was instantaneous, from a tranquillity and 
indulgence which knew no bound, to anguish which 
no language can express, no imagination conceive. 
As he was to be an eminent type of Him, who “ as a 


LECT. XII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


355 


sheep before her shearers is dumb, not opening her 
mouth,” scripture represents Joseph submitting to the 
barbarous treatment of his brothers, as doomed to 
perish of hunger in an empty pit, and sold into slavery 
to the Ishmaelites, without arguing, without upbraid¬ 
ing, without repining. 

Were it possible to form a stronger idea of the hard¬ 
heartedness of Jacob’s sons than that which their cru¬ 
elty to Joseph affords, it is to see them the calm wit¬ 
nesses of the anguish of their father’s soul, without be¬ 
ing moved by all his misery and tears to divulge the 
important secret, and to pour into the fond parental 
heart the cordial balm, which even the knowledge of 
his son’s being a slave in Egypt would have adminis¬ 
tered, As a dawn of hope would thence have arisen, 
that b^some blessed revolution of events, the precious 
hour might perhaps at length arrive, which should re¬ 
store him to his father again. What a dreadful thing 
it is to embark on a sea of vice ! To return is difficult, 
if not impossible—To proceed is ruin. 

Joseph meanwhile lives and prospers in a strange 
land. He has not lost all, he has lost nothing, who 
enjoys the divine presence and favour. The amiable 
youth is indeed from under the shadow of his father’s 
wing, but the protection of heaven is not withdrawn ; 
“ the Almighty is his refuge, and underneaththe 
everlasting arms.” A young man brought up like 
him, in fulness, liberty, indulgence and ease, might 
have been supposed sullen and stubborn under a change 
of condition so sudden and so severe ; or to have sunk 
into melancholy and despair. But with Joseph it was 
not so. With true magnanimity and spirit, he cheer¬ 
fully accommodates his mind to his situation, and 
without murmur or reluctance, addresses himself to 
the discharge of his duty as a diligent and faithful ser¬ 
vant. We have not power over our lot, to carve it out 
as we please ; but the mind has power over itself; and 
happiness has its seat in the mind, not in external cir- 


356 HISTORY OF JOSEPH. lECT. XII* 

cumstances. The favourite son of Israel seems degra¬ 
ded and dishonoured, even when raised to the first rank 
of servitude in Potiphar’s house; but Joseph, pious, 
modest, wise and faithful, is equally respectable whe¬ 
ther as a son or as a servant. 

Never did Potiphar make so fortunate a purchase* 
The blessing of God enters into his house, from the 
moment Joseph becomes a member of the family. In 
many various ways are servants curses or comforts to 
those with whom they dwell. Let a servant have a 
conscience and you have a certain pledge of his fidelity. 
Divest him of that and where is your security, that 
either your property or your person is safe in his hands ? 
Joseph demeaned himself as a good servant; Potiphar 
as a wise and a kind master. In vain do we look for 
affection and attachment in our inferiors, if we treat 
them with insolence, unkindness or neglect. The great 
and affluent are much more in the power ot, much 
more dependant upon their meanest domestics, than 
they are willing to understand, or to acknowledge. 
And surely, it is much more prudent to secure their 
affection, as humble friends, by condescension and good 
nature, than to provoke their resentment or revenge, 
by pride and severity. 

Joseph has been faithful over a few things, he is 
made ruler over many things. “ He made him over¬ 
seer over his house, and all that he had he put into his 
hand.” Hispersonal accomplishments keep pace with 
his mental endowments, “he was a goodly person, and 
well favoured.” Beauty like every other gift of na¬ 
ture, is good of itself, and therefore to be received 
with thankfulness. But alas, how often does it prove 
a snare to the possessor, and a temptation to others! 
This quality of Joseph’s had like to have proved more 
fatal to him than even the envy of his brothers. This 
last threatened only his body, but that endangers the 
soul. The one sold him into bondage, the other 
would have plunged him into dishonour. His mas 


LECT. XII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


357 


ter’s wife looked upon him with eyes of unhallowed af¬ 
fection, and attempts to make him a partaker of her 
impurity. To expatiate on the nature of this tempta¬ 
tion, would be as indecent as it is unnecessary. It is 
a fearful example of the dreadful length which the hu¬ 
man mind is capable of going, when the restraints of 
shame are once broken through. 

Some kind of temptations are boldly to be encoun¬ 
tered, and resolutely overcome. There are others only 
to be conquered by flight, and disarmed by removing 
to a distance. Joseph dwells only on one circumstance, 
in order to settle and determine his conduct—the all- 
seeing eye of God, and the danger of offending him ; 
u how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin 
against God,” Gen. xxxix. 9. Pleasure, and interest, 
and passion, blind the eyes; but conscience, with 
scrupulous attention, always and every where reveres 
an omnipresent Jehovah. The lower principles of our 
nature respect and are regulated by consequences. 
This great principle is moved only by a sense of right 
and wrong. Interest and desire are contented with in¬ 
quiring, “ is there no danger of being found out 
But conscience is only to be satisfied, by ascertaining, 
“ whether it be sin or duty.” 

The consequence to Joseph was such as might be 
expected from the temper of a shameless woman, false, 
lascivious and resentful. The demon of lust turned 
into those of rage and revenge, she accuses of an at¬ 
tempt to seduce her, the man, whom no consideration 
of pleasure, or of advantage, could for a moment se¬ 
duce from the right path. This accusation, however 
false, being uncontradicted, is admitted as true , and 
Joseph, as the reward of faithfulness almost without 
example, is immured in close custody, to be dragged 
forth at a proper opportunity to severer punishment. 
And here again we have a fresh instance of the great 
ness of his mind. He chooses rather to incur his mas¬ 
ter’s groundless displeasure, and to sink under the 


358 HISTORY OF JOSEPH. LECT. XII* 

weight of a false accusation, than to vindicate his own 
honour, by exposing the shame of a bad woman ; and 
he leaves the clearing up of his character, and the pre¬ 
servation of his life, to that God with whom he had 
entrusted still higher concerns, those of his immortal 
soul. And thus, the least-assuming, the shame-faced, 
feminine virtues, temperance, and chastity, and inno¬ 
cence, and self-government, are found in company 
with the most manly, the heroic qualities, intrepidity, 
constancy and contempt of death. 

No place is frightful to a good man but the dungeon 
of an ill conscience. Free from that Joseph is at large, 
though in prison. It is the favour or displeasure of 
God that makes this or the other spot comfortable or # 
irksome. “ Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is 
libertybut to the guilty, the whole world is a place 
of confinement. God, who delivered him out of the 
pit, accompanies him also to the prison. And what 
heart so savage that goodness cannot mollify, what na¬ 
ture so obdurate that the power of the Almighty can¬ 
not reach ? The profession of a gaoler is unfriendly to 
benevolence; it is a character which implies sternness 
and severity. But whether this man were formed of 
gentler clay, or whether the meekness and modesty of 
Joseph had wrought even upon a rocky heart; or whe¬ 
ther Providence specially interposed to further its own 
deep designs, so it is, we find our good young man in 
high favour with his keeper. Wherever we find Joseph 
—in Potiphar’s house, in prison, or at court, we find a 
man faithful, and diligent, and trusty ; and we find a 
man honoured, esteemed, and confided in, by all with 
whom he has any connection. Let a man be inflexi¬ 
bly honest and true, and he will never have reason to 
accuse the world of want of confidence. But it is no 
wonder if the dishonest knave find men full of doubt 
and suspicion. As his master’s house before, so the 
prison now, prospers on Joseph’s account. The world 
is not always sensible of its obligation to the presence 


LECT. XII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


359 


of good men. But Sodom was in a fearful state the 
moment righteous Lot went out of it; and when the 
people of God, “ the salt of the earth,” are all remov¬ 
ed from it, the end of the world cannot be at a great 
distance. 

By a strange concurrence of circumstances, which 
the Divine Providence alone could have brought toge¬ 
ther, Joseph has for his fellow prisoners two of the 
chief officers of the king of Egypt, who had fallen un¬ 
der their master’s displeasure; and had been for some 
time in confinement, uncertain of their doom. The 
great God is whetting his instruments, making his ar¬ 
rangements, marshalling his forces, at very different 
times, and in very different places. The envy of Ja¬ 
cob’s sons, the lasciviousness of Potiphar’s wife, the 
disobedience of Pharaoh’s servants, the anger of the 
king himself—all, all meet, strange to think ! in one 
point, the elevation of Joseph to the right hand of the 
throne. Remove but one link, and the chain is broken 
asunder. Take away but a single stone, and the fabric 
falls to the ground. But “ this work and counsel is 
of God, and therefore it cannot be overthrown.” “ He 
willeth, and none can let it.” 

It is not at all surprising, that he who had been pre¬ 
paring his work in places and in minds so remote from, 
so unlike to, and so unconnected with each other, 
should bring it to a conclusion by means somewhat un¬ 
common and supernatural. It happened, that in one 
and the same night, the chief butler and the chief ba¬ 
ker of Pharaoh dreamed each a dream, which laid fast 
hold of their minds and memory. And being men, 
like the rest of their country, strongly tinctured with 
superstition, and at that time in circumstances which 
peculiarly disposed them to receive superstitious im¬ 
pressions, their spirits are considerably affected by the 
vision of the night; not doubting that it portended the 
speedy approach of some great good or evil. Joseph 
attending them in the morning, in the course of his 


360 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XIIc 


duty, observed the deep concern which was engraved 
on their countenances; and sympathy being always 
one of the native effusions of an honest heart, he kindly 
inquires into the cause of it. 

By the way, how pleasant it is to observe this excel¬ 
lent young person, with so much cheerfulness and 
good nature performing the humble offices of a gaol¬ 
er’s servant ? He was accustomed to be waited upon, 
to be ministered unto; but duty calls, and with alacrity 
he ministers to the necessity of others. But what do 
I see ? An under goaler starting up all at once into an 
interpreter of dreams, possessing a sagacity that reaches 
into futurity, directed and taught by a Spirit whose 
piercing eye penetrates into eternity, and discerns all 
the wonders of the world unknown! How much wiser, 
how much more noble, how much more excellent, are 
they who live in communion with God than other men ! 
For though they do not all attain the gift of prophecy, 
the gift of working miracles, the gift of speaking with 
tongues; yet they all are dignified by the spirit of 
prayer; the spirit of adoption, “ the spirit of faith, the 
spirit of love, and of a sound mind.” 

Joseph from the different complexion of their se¬ 
veral dreams, and inspired no doubt by wisdom from 
above, predicts their approaching doom; the speedy 
restoration of the one to his former trust and dignity; 
a sudden and ignominious death to the other. Nothing 
but inspiration could have borne Joseph through a de¬ 
claration so bold and decisive, and which was to be 
brought to the awful test of confirmation or disappoint¬ 
ment in so short a space as three days. So confident 
is he of the certainty of his interpretation, that he 
founds all his hopes of enlargement upon it. And 
there is something inexpressibly tender and pathetic in 
his application to the chief butler to that effect, “ but 
think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew 
kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of 
me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. For 


LECT. XII. HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 361 

indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the He¬ 
brews : and here also have I done nothing, that they 
should put me into the dungeon,” Gen. xl. 14, 15. 

The event justified the prediction ; and it is an aw¬ 
ful and affecting illustration of the observation of the 
wise man, “ the king’s heart is in the hand of the 
Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whither¬ 
soever he will,” Prov. xxi. 1. A youth, a stranger, 
a prisoner, could have no power over the councils of 
Pharaoh. But the power which controls all the poten¬ 
tates of the earth, and marshals the whole host of hea¬ 
ven, is bringing his own word to pass, and performing 
his own pleasure. The chief butler, we may suppose, 
readily promised Joseph his best services when he 
should be again restored to place and power; but, like 
a true courtier, he thinks no more of his promise, nor 
of his fellow prisoner, after his own turn was served* 
So selfish, so thoughtless, so ungrateful is man ! Had 
he been under no personal obligation to the young 
stranger, for his tender assiduities while in confinement, 
and for the agreeable and certain intelligence which he 
received from him of his approaching deliverance, com¬ 
mon humanity, awakened by the simple tale of inno¬ 
cence and misery which he had told, ought to have 
prompted his immediate and most earnest exertions in 
his behalf. And yet he suffers two full years to linger 
away, without caring to reflect whether such a person 
existed or not. And when he thinks of him at last, it 
is not the generous recollection of kindness and at¬ 
tachment ; but the selfish remembrance of courtly adu¬ 
lation, eager to gratify his prince, not to rescue talents, 
and innocence and worth, from unmerited oppression. 
Pharaoh hanged him not for the offences which he had 
committed against his sovereign, but for his forgetful¬ 
ness and ingratitude to Joseph, let him be hung up an 
object of detestation and contempt to all generations of 
mankind. 

How very differently do God and men often judge 
Vot. I. 2 Z 


362 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XII. 


of one and the same object! If there be in all Egypt 
a person more forlorn and inconsiderable than another, 
it is a Hebrew slave in a dungeon. But “ God rais- 
eth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out 
of the dunghill, that he may set him with princes.” 
Pharaoh himself now begins to act a part in this won- 
derful' drama. For kings, in the hand of God, are 
only instruments of a higher order, and of more ex¬ 
tensive operation. Kings are liable to hunger and 
thirst like other meg,? kings must sleep, and may be 
disturbed by dreams like other men—and thus it hap¬ 
pened to the mighty sovereign of Eg) pt. \Vith vision 
upon vision, in one night, was his rest troubled; the 
strange coincidence and mysterious import ol which 
greatly perplex his waking thoughts. In a country 
teeming with gods, and over-run with superstition, no 
circumstance was overlooked which in any manner 
seemed to portend a future event. No wonder then 
that the prince, who has not always the best informed 
nor the firmest mind of any man within his dominions, 
should be rendered uneasy by a repetition of dreams, 
so singular in themselves, so similar to and yet so 
unlike one another. It is not less wonderful, that in a 
country so prolific of magicians and soothsayers, not 
one should be found bold enough to affix a meaning, 
or guess at an interpretation. Was it that the true 
God confounded and silenced their vain imaginations ? 
or that Pharaoh, dissatisfied with their idle conjec¬ 
tures, and prompted from above to make farther in¬ 
quiry, rejected the usual modes of solution, that, hea¬ 
ven-directed, Joseph might emerge out of obscurity to 
save a great nation, to preserve his father’s house in 
famine, and to fulfil the prediction and promise made 
to Abraham, concerning the f uture fortunes of his pos¬ 
terity ? 

The king’s vexation interests and affects the whole 
court. And then for the first time the chief butler 
bethinks himself of his faults, and of his promise, and 
of his obligations to his fellow^ prisoner, and relates 


LECT. XII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


3.63 


in the hearing of the king, the very extraordinary cir¬ 
cumstances of his own imprisonment and enlarge¬ 
ment ; of his dream, the interpretation and the issue. 
He is of consequence led to mention the character and 
situation of the interpreter. This instantly effects for 
Joseph, what his friendship, had it been exerted, per¬ 
haps would not have produced—an immediate order 
to set the prisoner free, and to bring him without de¬ 
lay into the royal presence. When men can be sub¬ 
servient to the interest, the pleasure, or the ambition of 
princes, they are in the sure road to preferment; and 
a man is often more indebted for success to a fortunate 
incident than to a righteous cause. Joseph’s affairs are 
now in a train such as his warmest friends could wish; 
and again we see another saying of the wise man veri¬ 
fied ; “ Seest thou a man diligent in his .business ? Ife 
shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean 
men,” Prov. xxii. 29. 

Pharaoh’s expectations are not disappointed. He 
relates his dreams; and God, the author of the visions, 
and who had sent the interpreter and the explanation, 
by the mouth of Joseph unfolds its meaning and im¬ 
port. Pharaoh’s dream had puzzled himself and all 
Egypt by its first aspect; but now that it is explained, 
how easy, how simple, how applicable, how natural 
every thing appears ! The greatest discoveries, after 
they are made, appear so obvious and so plain, that 
every one is ready to wonder he did not hit upon it 
first: and this instead of diminishing, greatly enhances 
the merit of the first discoverer. Upon the manifesta¬ 
tion of the import of Pharaoh’s redoubled vision, it is 
found, God, who had given formerly to two of the ser¬ 
vants an intimation of their approaching fate, was now 
giving to the sovereign a premonition of the visitations 
of his providence, to this great, populous and wealthy 
empire. A previous notice of good renders it a dou¬ 
ble blessing; a warning of evil prepares us to meet it, 
and thereby diminishes its weight. 


364 


HISTORY Of JOSEPH. 


LECT. XII. 


Joseph’s interpretation carried conviction along with 
it; and Pharaoh immediately resolves to act upon it. 
There is a certain undescribable charm in true wisdom, 
in unaffected goodness, that forces approbation, and 
carries the heart captive at once. There is a native 
dignity in virtue, which, while it never assumes, nor 
pushes itself forward, is never timorous, embarrassed 
or awkward. Joseph possesses unaffected ease and 
composure in the presence of Pharoah and all his 
court; and the court on this occasion, we have reason 
to think, was a very splendid, public and crouded one. 
So good a thing is it to have the heart established by 
the fear of God. It casts out every other fear. But 
the days of his depression are now ended, and every 
step he has trod through this valley of humiliation, is 
a progress made to the glory that follows. And here 
we break off, having conducted Joseph to the right 
hand of the throne; and beholding him ready to mount 
the sacred chariot, while admiring nations proclaim 
before him, “ bow the knee.” 

The next Lecture will exhibit the son of Jacob in 
all the splendour of high life ; armed with all the autho¬ 
rity of a minister of state, possessing a plentitude of 
power over the whole kingdom of Egypt. 

Turn for a moment from Joseph, and behold a 
greater than him. tfi The prince of this world came, 
and found nothing in him.” Temptation addressed 
to “ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the 
pride of life” had from his lips an instant repulse, u it 
is written, it is written.” “ In his humiliation his 
judgment is taken away;” he sufficed as a malefactor, 
though “ he did no sin, neither was guile found in his 
lips.” He was condemned and put to death upon a 
false accusation. From the triumphant ignominy of 
the cross, he dispenses life and death to his fellow-suf¬ 
ferers ; paradise to the one, everlasting shame to the 
other. “ Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or, 
being his counsellor, hath taught him ?” “ The only 


LECT. XII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


365 


begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he 
hath declared him.” “No man knoweth the Father 
but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal him.” 
“ He made himself of no reputation, and took upon 
him the form of a servant, and was made in likeness 
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he 
humbled himself and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath 
also highly exalted him, and given him a name, which 
is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every 
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in 
earth, and things under the earth; and that every 
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
glory of God the Father,” Phil. 7—11. “ Fools and 

slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spo¬ 
ken : ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and 
to enter into his glory ?” Luke xxiv. 25, 26. “ To 

him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in 
my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down 
with my Father in his throne,” Rev. iii. 21. “Be 
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown 
of life,” Rev. ii. 10. 

I conclude all in the words of the beloved disciple, 
who thus describes a more august vision than ever ap¬ 
peared to Pharaoh: “And I beheld, and lo, in the 
midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the 
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain : 
having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the 
seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.— 
And they sung a new song, saying Thou art worthy 
to the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou 
vvast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by the blood, 
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and na¬ 
tion; and hast made us unto our God kings and 
priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Aad I beheld, 
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the 
throne, and the beasts and the elders, and the number 
of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and 


366 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XII. 


thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, 
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and 
glory and blessing. And every creature which is in 
heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and such 
as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, 
saying, Blessing, honour, glory and power, be unto 
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb 
for ever and ever. And the four beasts said Amen. 
And the four and twenty elders fell down and worship¬ 
ped him that liveth for ever and ever,” Rev. v. 6—14. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECTURE XIII. 

And Pharaoh said unto his servants , Can we find such 
a one as this is. a man in whom the Spirit of God 
is ? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph , Forasmuch as 
God hath shewed thee all this , there is none so discreet 
and wise as thou art; thou shalt he over my house , 
and according unto thy word shall all my people be 
ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou . 
And Pharaoh said unto J seph, See , I have set thee 
over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off 
his ring from his hand , and put it on Joseph's hand y 
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen , and put a 
gold chain about his neck : and he made him to ride in 
the second chariot which he had: and they cried be¬ 
fore him , Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over 
all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Jo¬ 
seph , lam Pharaoh ; and without thee shall no man 
lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt — 
Gen. xli. 38—44. 

% 

JLF it be pleasant to observe, in particular instances, 
the providence of God justifying its own procedure, 
by relieving and vindicating oppressed innocence, or 
by precipitating prosperous guilt from its lofty seat; 
what must be the satisfaction and delight of beholding 
the whole plan of Providence unfolded, every mystery 
in the divine conduct explained, and all the ways of 
God to men completely vindicated ! A very consider¬ 
able part of our present distress arises from hastiness 




368 HISTORY OF JOSEPH. IECT. XIII. 

and impatience of spirit. We are for rushing to the 
end at once; we will not afford our Maker and Ruler 
leisure to open his own designs, to illustrate his own 
meaning. We would have the work of Heaven per¬ 
formed in our way; we have settled the whole order 
of things in our own minds; and all is wrong that ig¬ 
norance, fretfulness and presumption are pleased to dis¬ 
like. Cloudy rainy weather is much less agreeable 
than serenity ; yet it requires but a moment’s reflection 
to be convinced that eternal sunshine would be the 
reverse of a blessing to mankind. Now the alternate 
succession of day and night, of fair weather and rain, 
have not greater beauty and utility in the world of na¬ 
ture, than the successive shades of adversity and sun¬ 
beams of prosperity, which appear on the face of the 
moral world. 

Of this unceasing succession of mixture, the lot of 
individuals, the fortune of nations, the state of the 
globe, perhaps the system of the universe is composed. 
Nothing is permitted to continue too long: no being 
is suffered to go too far out of his station. The bal¬ 
ance eternally depends from the hand of a Being pos¬ 
sessed of infinite wisdom ; and after a few Slight vibra¬ 
tions, the scales speedily bring each other into equili¬ 
brium again. The swelling of a wave, the rolling of 
the ship, nay the finger of a child may for a moment 
derange the compass; but after trembling an instant 
or two from point to point, immediately the needle re¬ 
sumes its steady, stated northern direction. 

If there be in history a passage, which more than 
another encourages us patiently and submissively to 
wait for the end, to follow and submit to the conduct 
of Providence, it is the story of Joseph the son of 
Jacob. What man of humanity would have refused 
to lend his helping hand to rescue the innocent youth 
from the fury of his unnatural brothers, to pull him 
up out of the pit and to restore him to his father 
again ? Who would not gladly have sacrificed a part of 


LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


369 


his substance to purchase his release from Egyptian 
servitude ? .What friend to truth and virtue but Would 
have rejoiced to vindicate his character from the vile 
aspersions of his infamous mistress, and to save him 
from undeserved punishment ? What heart, alive to 
the feelings of gratitude, but would have seconded 
the application of “ the chief butler,” for his imme¬ 
diate enlargement? But all this would have been pre¬ 
cipitate. rash and absurd. His fond father himself 
could not have conducted his favourite son to the hon¬ 
ours which he attained, by a way so certain, so safe, 
and so honourable. Whether we regard Josepn him¬ 
self or the interests of his father's frtmily, or the wel¬ 
fare of Egypt, or the good of the human race, Provi¬ 
dence, when we come to the issue, it is found, has 
secured, promoted and succeeded them all in its own 
wise and gracious method, infinitely better than they 
possibly could have been by all the sagacity and fore¬ 
sight of man. 

By the wonderful steps then which we have seen, 
behold Joseph exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh, 
made lord over all Egypt, the lives, the conduct, the 
liberties, the property of millions entrusted to his care, 
subjected to his authority. Behold him married to a 
princess, arrayed in vestures of fine linen, a gold chain 
about his neck, the royal signet in his hands, riding 
through the land in the second chariot, while admiring 
nations bow the knee before him. Behold the dream 
.which boyish vanity, perhaps, at first suggested, which 
fraternal jealousy so keenly reprobated, and so sternly 
avenged, which a father’s wisdom was constrained to 
check and reprove, and which incredulity, no doubt, 
would treat as the idle chimera of a disturbed imagi¬ 
nation, is verified and brought to pass. When we 
observe so many of the important events of Joseph’s 
life turning upon the hinge of dreams and their inter¬ 
pretation, we are taught to think respectfully of every 
method by which God is pleased to communicate the 
Vol. I. 3 A 


370 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XIII. 


knowledge of his will to mankind. And, when our 
own dreams, as they sometimes do, either call us to 
duty, or convince us of sin ; when they recal to our 
memory what is past, or admonish us of what is to 
come, so that we may profit thereby, we ought to con¬ 
sider them as warnings from Heaven, and the voice of 
God. But to attend to and seek a meaning in every 
wandering of a sleeping fancy is silly and childish ; 
and to suffer them, of whatever complexion they be, 
to influence the conduct of life, so as to induce us *o 
neglect our duty, to vex and disquiet ourselves, or 
disturb others, is absurd, superstitious and wicked. 

There are three particulars in this part of the history 
of Joseph, which have exercised the learning and in¬ 
genuity of critics and commentators. First, whether 
the Hebrew word, Abrech , translated in our version, 
“ bow the knee,” had not better have been rendered, 
as the word will bear, “ tender father an appellation 
descriptive of his office and character ; dignity and 
gentleness united. Secondly, it is inquired, what is 
the exact import of the name which Pharaoh gave to 
Joseph upon his promotion ? It was customary -or 
eastern princes and nations to distinguish by new titles, 
persons who had rendered themselves illustrious by 
superior abilities, or splendid and important actions ; 
as in the case of Daniel and the three other children of 
the captivity. That which was given to Joseph, ac¬ 
cording to some, is an Egyptian expression which 
signifies u Saviour of the world,” and this, if just, 
conveys a high idea of the importance which the king 
ascribed to Joseph’s information and advice. Others 
contend that it signifies no more than “ revealer, or 
expounder of secrets.” This last interpretation has 
the most numerous, perhaps the most respectable sup¬ 
port. The jhird particular alluded to, involves in it 
something like a censure of Joseph, as if, hurried away 
by motives of ambition and pride, he had been eager 
to form an improper and dangerous matrimonial com 


LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


371 


nection with an 'idolatrous women, nay the daughter 
of a man who by profession, as a priest of On , or 
Heliopolis, the city of the Sun, was concerned to 
support and promote an idolatrous worship. The 
critics who advance and maintain this opinion, repre¬ 
sent Joseph as a mere time-serving sycophant, imbi¬ 
bing in a moment the spirit and manners of a court, 
and sacrificing principle to conveniency. I confess 
myself so partial to this amiable and excellent man, 
that without hesitation I undertake to meet this charge ; 
and would allege in his behalf, that, as the Spirit of 
God no where reprehends this conduct, which in cases 
deserving blame is done freely and without reserve, so 
we ought not, without just cause, and perfect know¬ 
ledge, to find fault; charity obliging us “ to think no 
evil ” where we can think well; to put the best con¬ 
struction on what is doubtful and to judge of what is 
not clear and explicit, by that which is. When I see 
Providence blessing this union by the birth of two sons, 
raised in process of time to a double rank of dignity 
and importance in Israel, it is impossible for me to 
think uncharitably of the union itself, which was the 
origin of that blessing. What, did Joseph acknowledge 
God so closely in every thing, even to the very naming 
of his children, correspondency to the aspects of the 
Divine Providence towards him, and can we suppose 
he neglected God in a matter of so much higher con¬ 
sequence ? Let me rather say, and say it without re¬ 
serve, that the piety, the chastity, the fidelity, the self- 
government of Joseph, in flying from an illicit com¬ 
merce with his master’s wife, was thus rewarded of 
Heaven by a virtuous and lasting union with a chaste 
virgin and a prince’s daughter. But we dwell too 
long on a vindication, which was perhaps altogether 
unnecessary To proceed; 

Joseph has arrived at a station of very high honour, 
but it is not to him a post of emolument and ease 
merely; and 1 rejoice to see the same person who 


372 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XIII. 


diligently and humanely served the goaler as a deputy, 
and who faithfully managed the affairs of Potiphar as a 
steward, attentively, humbly, industriously conducting 
the interests of a great king, and a mighty empire, as a 
minister of state. On which 1 found an observation fre¬ 
quently made already, 1 care not how often, that the 
fear of God is the best security of a man’s good beha¬ 
viour in every sit uation ; and that “ he is to be trusted 
in nothing, who has not a conscience in every thing.” 

Joseph was but thirty years old when he stood before 
Pharaoh, seventeen of which he had passed under the 
wing of a fond indulgent parent, and the other thirteen, 
at that period of life when the heart is most devoted to 
pleasure, he had lingered away in all the vanity of hu¬ 
man wretchedness ; but in all the dignity of virtue, all 
the superiority of wisdom, all the delights, pure and 
sublime, of true piety. And now at an age when most 
men are only beginning to reflect and act as reasonable 
beings, we see him raised, not by accident, nor cabal, 
not petulence, but by undisputed merit, to a situation, 
which one part of mankind looks up to with desire, 
another with awe, and a third with despair. And happy 
was it for Egypt, that ever this youth, this stranger, 
this Hebrew was sold for a slave into its bosom, for 
“ God sent him to save much people alive.” 

Egypt gloried that she was not, like other countries, 
dependant on the clouds of Heaven for the fertility of 
her soil, and the exuberance of her crops, but, that 
she derived her rich harvests from the flux and reflux 
of her own river. But'in vain had the Nile risen to 
the desired height during seven successive years of 
uncommon plenteousness, had not the prophetic fore¬ 
sight of a Joseph taught both prince and people to take 
advantage of the favour of Providence, and to lay, a 
good foundation for the time to come. Nothing du 
men so much abuse as plenty ; nothing do they so 
soon and so severely feel as want of bread, These 
seven prosperous years seem to compensate to Joseph 


LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OE JOSEPH. 


373 


all his former ills. His honour is cleared, his predictions 
are accomplished. What seldom meets, the sovereign, 
and the subject strive who shall exalt him most: his 
domestic felicity keeps pace with the public prosperity ; 
conscience approves; and God, the great God, smiles. 
If there be a condition of humanity to be desired, to 
be envied, it was this. 

Shall I stop to express a wonder, that during all this 
period, with all the power of Pharaoh in his hand, with 
a heart so tender, and a spirit so dutiful, he should 
make no attempt to convey to the wretched old man 
in Canaan, intelligence concerning his preservation and 
his present condition. But I check myself, when I 
consider that the whole was of the Lord of Hosts, 
“ who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in work¬ 
ing.” 

It is worth while to observe, how the style of scrip¬ 
ture is adapted to experience, and the nature of things. 
Years of tranquillity and success glide away impercep¬ 
tibly ; but every moment of pain is observed and felt, 
as it halts along. Accordingly, the history of seven 
prosperous and abundant years is despatched in a sen¬ 
tence or two; whereas seven years of famine, as they 
were more sensibly felt in their progress, so they af¬ 
ford more abundant materials to the pen of the historian; 
and the detail is lengthened out to the reader, as the 
distress was to the unhappy sufferers. Little do we 
think of this in the days of health, and ease and joy ; 
and therefore little thankful are we to God for our mul¬ 
tiplied comforts. To instruct us in their value, he is 
constrained to put forth his hand, and either to with¬ 
draw or to mar them; and we awaken, alas too laje, 
to a sense of our ooligations to an indulgent Provi¬ 
dence! The seven years of famine are now commenc¬ 
ed, and the honour of Joseph’s sagacity is established, 
but by a very different proof When either the pro¬ 
mises or the threatenings of the w'ord are fulfilled, we 
have equally a demonstration of the truth and faithful- 


374 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XIII. 


ness of God: venerable when he blesses, and venera¬ 
ble when he punishes a guilty world. Happy the prince, 
who, circumstanced like Pharaoh, can roll the cares 
and anxieties of government upon a minister of ability 
and integrity like Joseph. Happy the people, govern¬ 
ed by a ruler, who, himself educated in the school of 
affliction, has learned ro succour the distressed. 

The beginning and progress of scarcity is described 
in this part of the sacred history with wonderful exact¬ 
ness and energy. It represents men fir st parting cheer¬ 
fully with their money for food. By and by they are 
reduced to part with their lands, their hope and secu¬ 
rity, for years to come, in exchange for the subsistance 
of a day. And, at length, reluctantly and slow, we 
behold them surrendering liberty itself for the support 
of life. 

The neighbouring nations feel, with Egypt, the rod 
of God’s anger ; but every neighbouring nation is not 
blesstd with a Joseph, capable of foreseeing the evil, 
and of applying the remedy. Canaan, in common with 
others, is visited with the general calamity ; and Jacob, 
who lived there, Jacob, the heir of the promise, is rea¬ 
dy to perish with his family for lack of food. But 
he ill understands the promises, and the power of God, 
who, under the pressure of any affliction, trusts to a 
miracle for relief, when honest and lawful means are in 
his power. 

After an interval of more than thirteen years, we 
revisit poor Jacob’s melancholy habitation, and find 
him what he was from the beginning “ a man of sor¬ 
rows and acquainted with grief.” Behold a wound 
which time could not cure festering in his bosom. 
Behold him sinking into the grave under a load which 
reason could not alleviate, nor religion itself totally re¬ 
move. His family indeed, greatly increased by a mul¬ 
tiplicity of grandchildren ; but that great blessing 
embittered and converted into a curse, by the dreadful 
pressure of famine. What a dismal condition ! Chib 


LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


375 


dren crying for bread, and none to give them ; the 
wretched parents looking at their perishing offspring, 
and then at one another in silent astonishment and des¬ 
pair. Conscience, which had probably slept quietly 
in better days, would now, no doubt awaken the bitter 
memory of guilt long past, and which they had endea¬ 
voured to forget. The sight of their own children ready 
to die of hunger, could not but revive the dreadful re¬ 
collection of the time, when, in cold blood, they re¬ 
solved to starve a brother, an innocent brother, to death. 

In Jacob himself, we behold a moving and instruc¬ 
tive picture of every child of God, and of that church 
whereof he was then the living head and representative, 
“ troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, 
but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast 
down, but not destroyed.” He “ heard there was corn 
in Egypt ” He had silver and gold in abundance. De¬ 
spondency was only adding to the evil; he therefore 
rouses his astonished sons from their lethargy and de¬ 
jection, and proposes a journey into Egypt to buy 
food. There is no necessity so cogent as that of eating. 
It eagerly catches therefore at every prospect of relief, 
believes things incredible, attempts things impossible. 
The ten elder sons of Jacob the refore, set out for the 
land of Egypt on this errand, and into Egypt they came. 

On making the necessary inquiries respecting the 
purchase of corn, they are directed as all buyers, both 
natives and foreigners were, to Joseph ; without whom 
44 no man lifted up his hand or his foot in all the land.” 
The change produced in a youth of seventeen, by the 
addition of thirteen .years ; his new name, his dress, 
language and manners,; his high station and his stately 
demeanor, have effectually disguised their brother 
from their knowledge ; and Providence determined to 
abate them not a single iota of the humiliation predict¬ 
ed by the dreams, prostrates their “ ten sheaves before 
the sheaf of Joseph,” levels the ten proud spirits at 
their unknown brother’s feet. Want makes men won- 


376 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XIII. 


derfully submissive and complying : and they who 
fight against God will sooner or later find themselves 
dreadfully over-matched. Unknown by them, they 
stand well known and confessed to 4)im. At sight of 
them natural affection resumes.its empire in his heart, 
and the tide which had long forgotten to flow, now 
rushes impetuously from its source. He beholds ten ; 
but where are the two, more beloved and endeared 
than all the rest? It is impossible to conceive, much 
more to describe, the emotions of Joseph’s soul on 
hearing tidings of his father’s family : to learn that his 
dear, his tender parent was still in the land of the liv¬ 
ing ; surviving so long misery so dreadful; that this 
dear brother, his own mother’s^ son, was alive with him 
also, and in health. The sovereignty of Egypt I am 
persuaded never yielded him satisfaction half so sincere. 

The singularity of his situation evidently suggested 
to Joseph the experiment which he now resolved to 
make of the temper and character of his brothers ; and 
particularly of their disposition in an hour of trial, 
toward their father and Benjamin. I cannot suppose 
him for a moment actuated by sentiments of revenge. 
Had he been under the influence of such a passion, 
the means of gratification w r ere certainly most amply 
in his power. But the whole tenor of his conduct 
shews that he was governed by a very different spirit ; 
his severity is altogether affected, the better to carry 
on the design which he had formed ; and the peculiarity 
of his behaviour toward some of the brothers, is to be 
ascribed to some peculiar circumstances in the history 
of the family, which the sacred penman has not thought 
proper to record. Some rigid critics, however, while 
they acquit Joseph of Cruelty and revenge, severely 
accuse him of impiety and profanity in swearing, and 
swearing repeatedly, “by the life of Pharaoh,” and 
that, to a charge which he w r ell knew not to be founded 
in fact. It is not our design to undertake a justification 
of Joseph in every particular. What character can 


LEC T. XIII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


377 


stand throughout the test of a rigid examination ? 
Sacred history exhibits men just as they are, not what 
they ought in all respects to be. Dark spots are most 
easily discerned in the whitest garments, and foul 
blemishes in the fairest reputations. But let no sanc¬ 
tity of character presume to shelter the slightest devi^ 
ation from the path of God’s commandments. No ; 
the smallest sin, if any sin be small, is a degradation and 
disgrace to the most sanctified and exalted character. 

While Joseph, the better to conceal himself, talks 
and acts like a true Egyptian, God employs his affect¬ 
ed sternness and severity to awaken the slumbering 
consciences of his brothers, and to shew the sons of 
Jacob to themselves. Treated as spies, roughly spo¬ 
ken to, their most solemn protestations disregarded, but 
in prison and bound—*their treatment of Joseph in the 
evil day which put him in their power, rushes upon 
their memory, in all its guilt and horror, and they mu¬ 
tually upbraid and reproach each other with their bar¬ 
barity, “ saying one to another, We are verily guilty 
concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of 
his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear : 
therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben 
answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, 
do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear? 
Therefore, behold also, his blood is required.” Gen. 
xlii. 21, 22. 

This mutual and self-accusation excites in the ten¬ 
der heart of Joseph, emotions which he is unable to 
conceal. Hearing himself mentioned with so much 
tenderness and regret, by persons once so cruel, and in 
a language which he had been long unaccustomed to 
hear, the pretended Egyptian becomes in spite of him¬ 
self a real Israelite ; his bosom swells, his visage 
warms, the tear starts to his eye. To prevent a pre¬ 
mature discovery, he is constrained to retire and re¬ 
compose himself. He returns and renews the conver¬ 
sation, and again assuming the lord of Egypt, sets 
Yol. I. 3 B 


378 HISTORY OF JOSEPH. LECT. XIII. 

nine at liberty, binds Simeon before their eyes, and 
commits him to close confinement, as a hostage for 
their return, together with Benjamin their brother. He 
then dismisses them loaded with corn for their families, 
and provisions for the way : having secretly given or¬ 
ders to his stewart, in making up the bags of corn, to 
deposit each man’s money in the mouth of his respec¬ 
tive sack. This was not discovered till they were con¬ 
siderably advanced on their journey homeward ; when 
one undoing his sack to give his ass provender, ob¬ 
served his money in his sack’s mouth. Upon their 
arrival in Canaan, the same thing is found to have hap¬ 
pened to them all. Comparing this singularly strange 
circumstance with the rest of their eventful journey to 
Egypt, they discern the hand of God in it, and ob¬ 
serving such an unaccountable mixture of flattering 
and of mortifying events, they remain, upon the whole, 
perplexed and confounded. When the mind is sore, 
and the conscience seriously alarmed, dispensations of 
every complexion, both mercy and judgment, are 
viewed with a fearful eye. When we know we are 
deserving of punishment, every thing becomes a pun¬ 
ishment to us, either felt or feared. 

And now again, the unhappy father reckoning his 
long expected sons, as they arrive, finds their number 
short by one. “ Simeon too is not;” and the account 
given of his absence, instead of pouring balm into the 
wound, is “ as vinegar upon nitre.” “ Joseph is not, 
and Simeon is not,” and Benjamin is demanded. To 
recover what he has lost, he must risk still more. Si¬ 
meon is not what he should be, but his kind forgiv¬ 
ing father cannot think of giving him up, worthless as 
he is. To lose a pious, promising child by death, is 
painful: but the death of a thoughtless, graceless prof¬ 
ligate, to a parent of piety and sensibility, is much 
worse. We see the distressed old man putting off, 
and still putting off the evil day. He has more than 
one reason for sparing the corn which had been brought 


LECT. XIII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


379 


from such a distance, and procured at such a risk. 
Before a fresh supply can be obtained, and Simeon 
restored, “ the son of his right hand” must be sur¬ 
rendered, Benjamin must be taken away ; and the 
thought of this plants a dagger in his heart. But the 
famine continues, necessity presses, and a second pil¬ 
grimage must be undertaken. The account of it, 
however, must for the present be deferred. The his¬ 
tory swells upon us, and we shall rather entreat your 
patient attention to another Lecture on the subject, 
than hasten over a story so much calculated at once to 
please and to instruct. But behold a greater than Jo¬ 
seph is here. 

Behold Jesus, “ for the suffering of death,” highly 
exalted, ’ distinguished by “ a name that is above 
every name,” “ that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
and things under the earth, and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory 
of God the Father,” Phil. ii. 10, 11. “ All power is 

given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Matt, xxviii. 
18. “ The Father himself judgeth no man : but hath 

committed all judgment unto the Son. That all men 
should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. 
He that honourethnot the Son, honourethnot the Father 
which hath sent him,” John v, 22, 23. u 1 am the 
bread of life that came down from Heaven, that a man 
may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living oread, 
which came down from heaven: if any man eat of 
this bread he shall live for ever : and the bread that I 
will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of 
the world,” John vi. 50, 51. 44 He that cometh unto 

me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me 
shall never thirst. And all that the Father giveth me 
shall come to me: and him that cometh to me I will 
in no wise cast out,” John vi. 35, 37. “Ho, every 
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that 
hath no money : come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, 
buy wine and milk without money, and without price.” 


380 


IlISTORY OF JOSEPH. LECT. XIII. 


Isa. lv. 1. “It hath pleased the Father, that in him 
Should all fulness dwell.” Col i. 19. “ And of his 

fulness have all ye received, and grace for grace.” 
“ My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink in¬ 
deed,” John vi. 55. “ Your fathers found corn in 

Egypt.” “ Your fathers did eat manna in the wilder¬ 
ness and are dead, but he that eateth of this bread shall 
live forever.” “ Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh 
my blood, hatli eternal life, and I will raise him up at 
the last day,” John vi. 54. “ Look unto me, and be ye 
saved, ail the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and 
there is none else,’ ' Isa. xlv. 22. “ Blessed are they 

that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” “ Many 
shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down 
with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom 
of heaven,” Matt. viii. 11. “ In my Father’s house 

are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have 
told you ; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I 
go and prepare a place for you, 1 will come again, and 
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may 
be also ” John xiv. 2, 3. “ In those days, and in that 

time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, 
they, and the children of Judah together, going, and 
weeping : they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. 
They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thither¬ 
ward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the 
Lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgot* 
ten,” Jer. 1. 4, 5. “Ye are they which have continu¬ 
ed with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto 
you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me : 
that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, 
and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” 
Luke xxii. 28—30. “ Eat, O friends, drink, yea 

drink abundantly, O beloved.” “ He that cometh 
unto me I will in no wise cast out.” “ These things 
have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have 
peace : In the world ye shall have tribulation ; but be 
of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” John 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECTURE XIV. 

And Joseph said unto his brethren , I am Joseph ; doth 
my father yet live ? And his brethren could not 
answer him: for they were troubled at his presence. 
And Joseph saith unto his brethren , Come near to 
me I pray you: and they came near ; and he said, 
1 am Joseph your brother , whom ye sold in Egypt. 
JVow therefort be not neved nor angry with your¬ 
selves that ye sold me hither: for God did send me 
hither before you to preserve life. —Gen. xlv. 3, 4, 5. 

The productions of human power and skill afford 
but an imperfect and short-lived pleasure. The delight 
of the artist himself is over long before his work is 
completed, and the wonder of the spectator lasts only 
till he is let into the secret, and admitted behind the 
scenes. It is not so with the works of God. When 
the mighty fabric of the universe was finished, God 
surveyed his work with perfect complacency and satis¬ 
faction, for “behold it was all very good.” And such, 
to this day, it appears in the eye of every beholder. 
No frequency of contemplation, no closeness of inspec¬ 
tion, no keenness of investigation, or success in dis 
covery, ever bring on weariness or disgust. The eye 
is eternally delighted with the magnificence and splen¬ 
dour of the azure vault, with the verdure and variety of 
the fertile earth. The music of the grove never fails 
to charm the listening ear; the perfume breathed from 
“ the flower and the shrub, and the tree,” never palls 




382 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XIV. 


upon the sense. The whole order, harmony, majesty 
and beauty of nature, for ever astonish, compose, ele¬ 
vate, inform and instruct the souk 

The same may, with truth, be said of the word of 
God. What human composition so exquisite as always 
to please ? What human composition have we patience 
to turn over a tenth or a twentieth time ? The stores 
of human wisdom are quickly exhausted ; the eye 
speedily reaches forward to the end of created perfec¬ 
tion. But though the charm of novelty may have 
passed away, though memory may have stored itself 
with the very words, and the heart have felt the im¬ 
pression a thousand and a thousand times, yet the 
beauty, the force, the excellency, the importance of 
scripture composition remain in undiminished lustre. 
That sun in the firmament of grace, which has irradi¬ 
ated, cheered and blessed ages and generations past, is 
also our light and our glory, and shall, with unimpair¬ 
ed strength, with unconfined liberality, diffuse light, 
and life, and joy to the final consummation of all things. 

If serious minds be disposed to think thus of scrip¬ 
ture in general, all persons of sensibility and taste will, 
I am persuaded, agree in forming such a judgment of 
the history of Joseph in particular. The unlettered 
man and the scholar; the.child and the grown man ; 
the ingenious and the simple ; the believer and the infi¬ 
del ; Greek and Jew, have in all ages admired, delighted 
in, and edified by a story, which, clothed with all the 
graces of eloquence, exhibits the most uncommon, sur¬ 
prising, affecting and important events ; and conveys 
the purest and sublimest lessons of piety and morality. 

The famine continued to rage with unrelenting se¬ 
verity in Egypt and the countries adjacent, and dire 
indeed must have been the pressure of that calamity, 
which compelled a father, tender and affectionate like 
Jacob, after losing two sons by a stroke heavier than 
that of death, to part with his youngest, darling hope, 
at the risk of never seeing him more. How horrid 


LECT. XIV. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH* 


383 


that plague which can force a fond mother to devour 
her owe child for food ! Let this awful reflection, in a 
year of scarcity, and at a season of waste and luxury,* 
check profusion, awaken our compassion to the poor 
and wretched, and temper our joy. The old man yields 
up his Benjamin, as if his own body were dismember¬ 
ing limb by limb. “ If it must be so now” “ take your 
brother, and arise, go again unto the man. And God 
Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may 
send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be 
bereaved of my children, I am bereaved,” Gen. xliii. 
1.3, 14. 

With double money in their hands, then, with a pre¬ 
sent consisting of the choicest productions of Canaan, 
for the governor of Egypt, and with the heart and soul 
of their aged father in their custody, they sent out on a 
second pilgrimage to buy food. What is a land produc¬ 
ing “ balm, honey, spices, myrrh, nuts, and almonds,” 
compared to a land of corn ! What worthless things are 
gold and silver compared to bread. If our own country 
be less fertile in the wine and oil, the drugs and per¬ 
fumes, the gems and gold of other regions, it is more 
abundantly productive of the staff and the protection of 
life—the “ finest of the wheat,” the oak more firm and 
durable than cedar, the iron more precious than rubies. 

Their arrival being announced to Joseph, and his 
brother Benjamin appearing with the rest; Benjamin, 
whom having parted with a child, he could not have 
known, but from the company in which he was found, 
he gives orders to make preparation for a great enter¬ 
tainment in honour of these strangers. The men were 
not more distressed at the harshness of the treatment 
which they met with at first, than they are perplexed 
and confounded at the excessive kindness and hospi¬ 
tality of their present reception ; for an ill conscience 
is ever timid and suspicious. Against the time of 


* December 25th, 1782, 


384 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


IECT. XIV. 


Joseph’s arrival they make ready their present, and be¬ 
ing admitted into his presence, they again prostrate 
themselves to the earth before him. In vain do men 
set themselves to counteract the decrees of Heaven. 

After the customary salutations, with a mixture of 
anxiety and hope, he inquires after the life and welfare 
of their father, and, to his inexpressible satisfaction, 
learns that he was alive and in health. But the sight of 
Benjamin awakens too many tender recollections to be 
resisted, too many fond ideas to be suppressed. The 
premature loss of their common parent, the partial af¬ 
fection of their kind father, the present anxiety and dis¬ 
tress of the venerable man, his own strange eventful his¬ 
tory, Benjamin’s tender youth, his distance from home, 
his separation from paternal care and protection, his ex¬ 
posedness to dangers which had almost proved fatal to 
himself; all, all rush upon his mind at once, and excite 
emotions too powerful to be concealed. He is obliged 
to retire in order to throw a veil over those feelings 
which must have betrayed him; and gives vent to his 
heart in secret. Having recomposed himself, he returns 
to the company, and, resuming the Egyptian, com¬ 
mands the entertainment to be served up. Three tables 
are set out, one for himself apart, as governor of the 
country; another for his guests, by themselves ; and a 
third for the Egyptians of his household, or such as 
might be invited on the occasion. For the Egyptians, 
either from religious scruples, or political pride and 
aversion, abhorred a communication with other nations 
in convivial or secret entertainments. 

And here w’as presented a fresh source of wonder to 
the sons of Jacob. By Joseph’s direction they are ar¬ 
ranged at table in the exact order of their birth, with¬ 
out inquiry or information. This, in connexion with 
the account which it behoved them to have heard con¬ 
cerning such an extraordinary person, must have con¬ 
veyed to them an idea of a sagacity altogether preter¬ 
natural. Nor would their surprise be diminished by 


LECT. XIV. HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 385 

the distinguished mark of respect shewn to their young¬ 
est brother ; for the mess sent from the governor’s table 
to him, was “ five times” the quantity of any of the 
rest; and it was thus that in ancient times, among 
eastern nations, superiour deference and esteem were 
expressed. However, the increasing festivity of the 
banquet gradually dissipated all their terrors. “ They 
drank and were merry.” The Hebrew word unques¬ 
tionably insinuates that they drank to excess. It is 
natural for men to rush from one extreme to another, 
and it is not improbable that Joseph threw this tempta¬ 
tion in their way, in order to obtain a more thorough 
insight into their temper and character, by observing 
them attentively, in a situation when the heart over¬ 
flows, and the tongue conceals and disguises nothing. 
Whatever be in this, he is preparing a trial for them 
more severe than any’ which they had as yet experi¬ 
enced, and which in some measure compensated the 
anguish they had occasioned to their father, when they 
impressed him with the belief of his son’s death. 

Loaded with civilities, provided with a supply of 
corn for their starving families, Simeon restored, Ben¬ 
jamin not detained ; they set out on their journey to 
Canaan, with a merry heart, talking one to another of 
the strange things which had come to pass. But 
scarcely are they got clear of the city when they are 
pursued and overtaken by Joseph’s steward, charging 
them with theft, and commanding them instantly to 
return to his master to answer for it. 

With terror and astonishment, though in the com 
fidence of innocence, they deny the charge and reasoiY 
upon the improbability of it. Search is made among 
their stuff for the goods alleged to be stolen ; ten are 
acquitted with honour, and they are just beginning to 
exult in the detected falsehood of such a scandalous 
imputation, when to their utter confusion, Joseph’s 
cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Overwhelmed 
with shame and terror, they are again conducted to his 
Vo e. I 3 C 


386 HISTORY OF JOSEPH. LEC T. XIV. 

presence. The crime is proved. To deny it were 
vain, to excuse it, nugatory and absurd; and to ac¬ 
count for it is impossible. 

Judah, who had been the most urgent with his father 
to send Benjamin, and had solemnly pledged himself 
for his safe return, feels himself now called forth : and, 
in a strain of the most pathetic eloquence that ever 
flowed from an aching heart, attempts not to extenuate 
or exculpate, but to raise compassion, and to obtain 
mercy. The piece is of exquisite beauty and elegance, 
and, being in every one’s hands, may be re-pursued at 
your leisure. The Jewish writers take delight in dwell¬ 
ing upon, ayd expanding it. Philo in particular, in 
his treatise entitled, “Joseph,” has given a paraphrase 
of this speech of Judah, which possesses wonderful 
elegance and propriety of expression, and force of 
thought. Some of you, perhaps may not be displeas¬ 
ed with having an opportunity of comparing the diffu¬ 
sive, laboured eloquence of the paraphrast, with the 
energetic simplicity of the sacred text. The former 
puts into Judah’s mouth the following address. 

“ When we appeared, Sir, before you the first time, 
we answered without reserve, and according to the 
strictest truth, all the questions which you were pleased 
to put to us concerning our family. We acquainted 
you, that we had a father heavily laden with years, but 
still more heavily with misfortunes; a father, whose 
whole life had been one continued struggle with adver¬ 
sity. We added that wd had a brother peculiarly dear 
to him, as the children born towards the end of their 
life, generally are to old men, and who is the only one 
remaining of his mother; his brother having come in 
early youth to a most tragical end. You commanded 
us, as the proof of our veracity and innocence, to bring 
that brother unto you, and your command was deliver¬ 
ed with such threaten in gs, that the terror of them ac¬ 
companied us ail the way back to our country, and em¬ 
bittered the remainder of our journey. We reported 


LECT. xiy. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


387 


every thing minutely to our father, as you directed us. 
Resolutely and long, he refused to entrust us with the 
care of that child. Love suggested a thousand causes 
of apprehension upon his account. He loaded us with 
the bitterest reproaches for having declared that we had 
another brother. Subdued by the famine, he at length 
reluctantly consented; and putting his beloved son, 
this unhappy youth, into our hands, conjured us by 
every dear, every awful name, to guard with tenderness 
his precious life, and as we would not see him expire 
before our eyes in anguish and despair, to bring him 
back in safety. He parted with him as with a limb 
torn from his own body ; and in an agony of grief in¬ 
expressible, deplored the dreadful necessity which se¬ 
parated him from a son, on whom all the happiness of 
his life depended. How then can we appear before a 
father of such delicate sensibility ? With what eyes 
shall we dare to look upon him, unless we carry back 
with us this son of his right hand, this staff of his old 
age, whom alas you have condemned to slavery ? The 
good old man will expire in horrors dreadful to nature, 
as soon as he shall find that his son is not with us. Our 
enemies will exult over us under these misfortunes, and 
treat us as the most infamous of parricides. I must 
appear to the world, and to myself, as the perpetrator 
of that most horrid of crimes, the murder of a father ; 
for it was I who most urgently pressed my father to 
yield. I engaged by the most solemn promises, and 
the most sacred pledges, to bring the child back. Me 
he entrusted with the sacred deposit, and of my hand 
he will require it. Have pity, I beseech you, on the 
deplorable condition of an old man, stripped of his last 
comfort, and whose misery will be aggravated by re¬ 
flecting that he foresaw its approach and yet wanted re¬ 
solution to prevent it. If your just indignation must 
needs have a sacrifice, here I am ready, at the price of 
my liberty, or of my life, to expiate this young man’s 
guilt, and to purchase his release ? Grant this request, 


388 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XIV. 


not so much for the sake of the youth himself, as of 
his absent father, who never offended you. but who ve¬ 
nerates your person and esteems your virtues. Suffer 
us not to plead in vain for a shelter under your right 
hand, to which we flee as to a holy altar, consecrated as 
a refuge to the miserable. Pity an old man, who, du¬ 
ring the whole course of a long life, has cultivated arts 
becoming a man of wisdom and probity, and who, on 
account of his amiable qualities, is almost adored by 
the inhabitants of Syria and Canaan, though he profess 
a religion, and follow a mode of living totally different 
from theirs. 5 ’ 

This address, it must be acknowledged, possesses 
uncommon grace and tenderness. But it is evident from 
whence the modern pretended Jew, has copied his ten- 
direst and most delicate touches. And when the copy 
and the original are brought close together, it will be 
apparent to a discerning eye which is the most finished 
piece. If Philo has made Judah speak well, it will hard¬ 
ly be disputed that Moses has made him speak better. 

The words of Judah penetrated the heart of Joseph. 
The affectionate manner in which his father was men¬ 
tioned, the unfeigned earnestness expressed tq save him 
from the impending blow; the generosity of his offer 
to put himself in Benjamin’s place, to purchase a pa¬ 
rent’s comfort and a brother’s release, at the price of his 
own liberty ; all this satisfies him, that time, and afflic¬ 
tion, and a sense of duty, and the powerful constraint 
of returning nature, had introduced another and a hap¬ 
pier spirit into the family. He finds himself incapable 
of any longer deferring the pleasure which he should 
both receive and communicate by making a discovery 
of himself. The curiosity of his domestics must have 
been greatly raised by the unaccountable peculiarity of 
his behaviour to these strangers, but he does not choose 
to have any spectators of that scene of nature which he 
was meditating, except those who were to be actors in 
it. The heart likes not to have its stronger emotion? 
seen of many witnesses. “ The heart knoweth its own 


LECT. XIV. 


HISTORY O T JOSEPH. 


389 


bitterness, and a stranger intermeddleth not with its 
jov.” He therefore commands every Egyptian out of 
the apartment, and being left alone with his eleven bro¬ 
thers, whose consternation must have been greatly in¬ 
creased by the orders which they had now heard given, 
he bursts into an agony of tenderness, and in words in¬ 
articulate and indistinct through tears, declares in one 
breath who he was; and in the next, with accents that 
pierce the soul, pours out his heart in a tender inquiry 
after his old kind father. Two short words unfold the 
whole mystery of this strange conduct. 

But what language can convey an adequate idea of 
Joseph’s feelings at that moment; the feelings of a heart 
glowingat the thought of once more beholding his ven¬ 
erable sire, of being pressed to his bosom, of cheering 
and cherishing his declining years ; a heart melting into 
sympathy, forgiveness and brotherly love, exulting in 
the joy of rendering good for evil; a heart lost in won¬ 
der and overflowing with gratitude, while it contempla¬ 
ted the wisdom and goodness of all-ruling Providence, 
in producing such events by means so incomprehensible. 

The feelings of the brothers too, are rather to b$ con¬ 
ceived than described. Thunderstruck with astonish* 
ment, oppressed with shame, stung with remorse, pe¬ 
trified with terror:—no, not terror ; the words, the 
looks, the tears of their relenting brother, assure them 
in a moment that they have nothing to fear. But unable 
to make any reply, they afford the noble-minded, the 
condescending Joseph an opportunity of so lar recover¬ 
ing himself, as to be able to administer this strongest 
of all consolation, that their unkindness to himself had 
been intended, ordered and over-ruled of God, to answer 
the most valuable and important purposes to him, to 
themselves, to their father’s house, and to many 
nations. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry 
with yourselves, that ye sold me thither : for God did 
send me before you, to preserve life,” Gen. xlv. 5. 
In this address of Joseph, I know not which to admire 


390 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XIV. 


most ; his magnanimity in pardoning offences so atro¬ 
cious, losing sight of the criminals in the brothers ; his 
wonderful skill in adapting the style of his consolitary 
arguments so exactly to the circumstances of the case ; 
his invincible humility in carrying the spirit and temper 
of the lowliest condition and relations of humanity, into 
the loftiest, most envied, and most corruptive station of 
courtly grandeur ; or his pure, fervent and sublime 
piety, in considering and acknowledging all that had 
come to pass, as the design and operation of Heaven. 

With infinite judgment and propriety, the sacred his¬ 
torian has put no reply whatever, into the mouths of 
the brothers. There are certain situations which defy 
description ; certain emotions which silence best, which 
silence only, can explain. And such was theirs. Joseph 
however is not so lost in joy, as to forget that it was far 
from being perfect till one more became a partaker of 
it, nor so much swallowed up in the present, as to neg¬ 
lect the future. With gladness of heart would he have 
flown to Hebron, and been himself the messenger of 
his own life and prosperity, to the good old man. But 
the duties of his station forbid. This is one of the 
taxes which greatness is doomed to pay. It must 
learn to repress the inclinations and forego the pleasures 
of the private citizen. Princes live not to themselves 
but to the public; and the happiness of millions, is a 
felicity infinitely superiourto every sordid, every selfish 
gratification. He could not, must not go to his father; 
but it was not impossible to remove his father into 
Egypt. The excellence of his disposition appears in 
svery thing. In characters like his, we do not find 
duty justling duty out of doors, but every one in its 
proper place. Passion tempered by prudence; and 
wisdom animated by passion. To render the projected 
removal of his venerable parent as easy and comfort¬ 
able as possible to his advanced age, and increasing 
infirmities, he proposes for his residence the land of 
Goshen, which was a province of the lower Egypt, 


JLECT. XIV. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


391 


on the east side of the Nile, bordering upon Arabia, 
and a frontier to Palestine. This province was fit for 
feeding cattle, the profession which his father and 
brethren followed ; and it was not far from the city 
where the Egyptian monarchs usually resided, and 
where Joseph’s stated habitation of course was. It is 
called Zoan in the seventy-eighth psalirg and Tanais by 
profane authors. This nearness of situation, Joseph 
alleged as one motive to induce his father to under¬ 
take the journey; and there he engaged to maintain 
him and all his family, in affluence and comfort. 

In Pharoah we have an amiable instance of qualities 
rarely to be found in the character of princes—attach¬ 
ment and gratitude. He cheerfully confirms all the 
engagements of his minister, though they extended to 
disposing of a whole province of his empire. He out¬ 
runs the wishes and desires of even filial duty and af¬ 
fection, and strives to repay the kindness of Joseph, 
whom God had made a father to him, by becoming 
a shield and protector to his father’s house. 

But what shall we say, what shall we think of Joseph 
himself? Men suddenly and remarkably elevated, are 
apt to forget themselves, to forget those from whom 
they sprung, and the means by which they rose. But 
behold the prime minister of a mighty empire, the 
favourite of a great and powerful prince, the lord of 
Egypt, attending to the conveniency and comfort of an 
old shepherd, whose person was unknown in the coun¬ 
try which he governed, his religion abhorred, and his 
occupation despised. O nature, nature! How hon¬ 
ourable is thy empire, how glorious are thy triumphs !—* 
Joseph is now as eager to hasten the departure of his 
brethren, as he was before artful to detain them. And 
at Pharaoh’s command dismisses them with a retinue 
suitable to the rank and dignity of the man who was next 
the throne. But it is with pleasure we observe, that 
the splendour of this retinue was not the silly ostenta¬ 
tion of wealth and power, but the display of much 


392 HISTORY OF JOSEPH. LECT. XIV 

better passions, the kindness, the liberality, the grati¬ 
tude of a good and honest heart. 

And, is the sun indeed at length going to rise upon 
Jacob’s hoary head ? And shall the heart so long dead 
to joy, yet once more awaken to transport ? And shall 
his eyes at last close in peace ? Alas, Alas ! are we not 
all dying to the world, before we begin to live to com¬ 
fort ? Is not the drama of life over, before vve are well 
sensible that our partin the scene has commenced? Is 
it not rather too late in life to purchase a blessing so 
transitory, bv a change so great ? What will a man 
not do to save his family from perishing, and to be 
joined to such a son as Joseph ? It is indeed too late in 
life, before we die to hope; and wisely and well it is 
ordered, that we should hope to the end. The man 
who has suffered so much, who has died so often, has 
not much more either to feel or to fear. 

This dawning of happiness upon the head of the aged 
patriarch, is to himself so new, so unlike the common 
complexion of his lot, opens so many interesting views 
of Providence—that I trust you will deem with me 
the prosperous period of Jacob’s history deserving of a 
Lecture by itself. Here then we break off, after hav¬ 
ing suggested to your minds a few texts of scripture, 
tending to illustrate and to apply our subject. 

And “ there arose a mighty famine in 'that land, 
and he began to be in want. And he went and joined 
himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him 
into his field to feed swine. And he would fain have 
filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat : 
and no man gave unto him. And when he came to 
himself, he said, How many hired servants of my 
father’s have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish 
with hunger! I will arise, and go to my father, and 
will say unto him, Father I have sinned against Hea¬ 
ven, and before thee ; and am no more worthy to be 
called thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants. 
And he arose, and came to his father: but when he 


LECT. XIV. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


393 


xvas yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had 
compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed 
him,” Luke xv. 14—20. “ Come unto me all ye that 
labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am 
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto 
} r our souls,” Matt. xi. 28, 29. “ Leave thy father¬ 

less children, I will preserve them alive: and let thy 
widows trust in me,” Jer. xlix. 11. “ Fear not, little 

flock ; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you 
the kingdom,” Luke xii. 32. “ O Jerusalem, Jerusa¬ 

lem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them 
that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gather¬ 
ed thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under her wings, and ye would not,” Matt, 
xxiii. 37. “ For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, 
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius 
Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were 
gathered together: for to do whatsoever thy hand and 
thy counsel determined before to be done,” Acts if. 
27, 28. “ Because the foolishness of God is wiser 

than men: and the weakness of God is stronger than 
men,” 1 Cor. i. 25. “ This cometh forth from the 

Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and ex¬ 
cellent in working,” Isa. xxviii. 29. “ Trust in the 

Lord, and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 
verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the 
Lord, and he shall give thee the desire of thine heart. 
Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, 
and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth 
thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the 
noon day. The steps of a good man are ordered by 
the Lord, and he delighteth in his ways,” Psalm xxxvii. 
3, 4, 5, 6—23. “ Acquaint now thyself with him, 

and be at peace : thereby good shall come unto thee,” 
Job xxii. 21. “ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and 

he shall direct thy paths,” Prov. iii. 6. 

Vol. I. 3D 


HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH 


LECTURE XV. 


So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and 
he said unto them , See that ye fall not out by the way. 
And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the 
land of Canaan unto Jacob their father ; and told him, 
saying Joseph is yet alive , and he is governour over 
all the land of Egypt . And Jacob's heart fainted, 
for he believed them not . And they told him all the 
words of Joseph which he had said unto them : and 
when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to 
carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived . 
And Israel said, It is enough: Joseph my son is yet 
alive: I will go and see him before I die, —Gen. xlv. 
24 — 28 . 


If there be such a thing as pure and perfect joy upon 
earth, it is that which fills the heart of a parent, when 
he hears of the wisdom, the virtue and the prosperity 
of a darling child. If there be sorrow that admits not 
of consolation, it is the sorrow of a father, for the vice 
or folly of an ungracious thankless son, and for the 
misery in which he has plunged himself. The pa¬ 
triarch Jacob felt both these in the extreme. He had 
now lived to the age of one hundred and thirty years ; 
and had proved all the bitter variety of human wretch¬ 
edness. Every change of condition he has hitherto 
undergone, is only the sad transition from affliction, 
to affliction. The burthen at length becomes too heavy 




LECT. XV. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH, 395 

to bear, and we see a miserable old man sinking into 
the grave under the accumulated weight of woes in¬ 
supportable. In parting with Benjamin he had yield¬ 
ed up his last stake, and renounced all hopes of hap¬ 
piness in this world; calmly looking forward to that 
peaceful region, where the wicked cease from 
troubling, and where the weary are at rest.” 

But the full estimate of human life cannot be made 
till the scene be closed. The shades of the night at 
last begin to disperse, and the day dawns. While he 
is tormenting himself in Canaan, with the apprehension 
of never seeing more his last, his only remaining hope. 
Providence is maturing in Egypt, a gracious design in 
his behalf, which is in a moment to turn his sorrow 
into joy. 

Joseph having discovered himself to his brethren, 
hastens their return homeward, and dismisses them 
provided with every accommodation for the safe and 
comfortable removal of their aged father, and their ten¬ 
der children. What a triumph was Joseph’s ! What 
a glorious superiority ! The triumph of Heaven, the 
superiority of God himself, who “ overcomes evil with 
good.” But he is unable to conceal the partiality of his 
affection to Benjamin. As he distinguished him at 
table by a five-fold portion, he d.stinguishes him at 
parting with a more splendid and costly present than 
the rest, consisting of three hundred pieces of silver, 
and five changes of raiment. In a wardrobe of great 
value and variety, a considerable part of ancient mag¬ 
nificence consisted. This we learn both from scrip¬ 
ture, and from profane authors. Sampson proposed 
as a reward to him who should expound his riddle, 
“ thirty changes of garments.” Naaman the Syrian, 
among other valuable commodities, carried “ ten 
changes of garments,” as a gratification to the pro¬ 
phet from whom he expected the cure of his leprosy. 
Under the first Roman emperors, this vanity and 
extravagance were carried to such an excessive 
pitch, that the Praetor Lucullus, according to Flu- 


396 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH.' LECT. XV. 

tarch, his biographer, had two hundred changes of 
apparel; and Horace insinuates, in one of his epistles, 
that by some, the luxury was carried to the enormous 
extravagance of five thousand suits. And it is, without 
doubt, to this ostentatious profusion the apostle James 
alludes, when he thus censures the abuse of wealth, 
“ Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your 
miseries ; your riches are corrupted and your garments 
are moth-eaten.” 

But was it wisely done, sage governor of Egypt? 
was it wisely done, thus to scatter the seeds of jealousy 
and envy in hearts so susceptible of these dreadful 
passions ? Have you forgot the coat of many colours, 
the dangerous badge of your father’s fondness to your, 
self? Have you not rendered your own advice neces¬ 
sary, “ See that you fall not out by the way ?” Hap¬ 
pily, the recollection of past disasters, and the kind be¬ 
haviour and gentle admonition of their affectionate 
brother, have subdued jjieir boisterous spirits, and at¬ 
tuned their hearts to love. The anxiety of the old man 
for their return is better to be conceived than described. 
How often in a day would his fond eyes turn to the 
way by which Benjamin was expected back ? How 
would the tardy hours linger, as the heart languish¬ 
ed with hope deferred ? At last the blessed moment 
arrives, the train appears; the number complete, Ben¬ 
jamin safe, Simeon restored. But what can this mean ? 
Instead of eleven men driving their asses laden with 
corn, a splendid retinue, the glory of Egypt, the wa¬ 
gons of Pharaoh! The heart that has been long inur¬ 
ed to affliction, interprets every appearance against 
itself. Some things are too good, others too evil to 
be hastily credited. The utmost height of Jacob’s 
expectation was to behold his youngest son again, 
with a supply of corn for his starving family. But to 
hear that his long-lost, his much lamented Joseph was 
still living, that he was the ruler of all Egypt, the 
saviour of a great nation, the father a mighty prince. 


iiECT. XV. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 307 

O ! it is, it is too much. Nature tottering under a 
load of wo, now sinks and faints under an exces of 
joy. Such tidings are too flattering to be believed. 

Did the brothers now disclose the whole of the migh¬ 
ty secret and take shame to themselves for their vile 
conduct to so excellent a father, to so amiable a bro¬ 
ther? Or, trusting to Joseph’s generosity, did they 
conceal the part which they had acted in a strange 
mysterious drama ? Probably the latter is the truth. 
The soul shrinks back from the discovery of its ov^n 
wickedness. To confess, and condemn themselves, 
could do now no good, and must greatly have marred 
and diminished their aged parent’s satisfaction, if in¬ 
deed he had no suspicion how the case stood. The 
good man has been so long a stranger to felicity, that 
the possibility of it is called in question; that slowly 
and cautiously he yields to the sweet demonstration* 
Convinced, satisfied at length, what joy is equal to the 
joy of Jacob ? Is it not worthy wading through a sea of 
trouble, to come to such a shore at length ? The bless¬ 
ings of Providence are well worth waiting for. They 
may seem to linger; they are not always such as we 
wished and expected: but they are ever seasonable, 
ever suitable, and they compensate in a moment the 
pain and misery of a whole life. 

But is it not late in life to undertake such a journey ? 
No ; it is to see Joseph, to be joined unto him; to be 
an eye-witness of his grandeur, and a partaker of his 
liberality. How often has Egypt sheltered and nou¬ 
rished the church of God ! Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, 
Moses, Jesus Christ himself, there successively found 
protection. The same place, according as Providence 
ordains it, is either a trying furnace, or a refuge and 
sanctuary. A king that knows Joseph is a nursing fa¬ 
ther to Israel; another rises who knows him not, and 
he wastes, and destroys. But our patriarch was not 
merely following the impulse of natural affection though 
that had been warrant sufficient for even a still greater 


398 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XV, 

removal; he is also obeying the dictates of wisdom, 
in making a prudent provision for his numerous and 
increasing family, and he is listening to a special call 
and encouragement from Heaven. Before he leaves 
Canaan, probably for ever, he visits Beer-sheba, the 
chosen and favourite residence of his father ; and there 
he renews his covenant with God by a sacrifice.—- 
Those enterprises are most likely to succeed, those 
comforts to afford most genuine satisfaction, in which 
God is seen, acknowledged and enjoyed. The sacri¬ 
fices of the devout by day, are answered by the visions 
of the Almighty in the night season. A man can pro¬ 
ceed with cheerfulness and confidence, when he has 
got his Maker’s permission. 

The vision assures him that he should arrive in safe¬ 
ty, should prosper in Egypt, should embrace his son, 
and that “ Joseph should put his hand upon his eyes,” 
that is, perform the last offices of filial duty and hu¬ 
manity. We meetwitluhe same expression and idea 
in many passages of the heathen poets, Penelope, in 
Homer, prays that Telemachus her son may close her 
eyes, and those of his father Ulysses. The mother of 
Euryalus in the iEneid, among many other bitter ex¬ 
pressions of sorrow over her dead son, laments that 
she was denied the wretched consolation, since he 
must die before her, of pressing down his dying eyes. 
Human nature thus strives to outlive itself, and the 
heart, while it is yet capable of feeling, consoles itself 
with the hope of receiving marks of tenderness and 
attachment, after it can feel no more. The old man’s 
heart is now at rest, he is acting in obedience to the 
command of Heaven, he is complying with one of the 
worthiest propensities of nature. He is indebted 
for the commodiousness with which he travels, to 
the person whom on earth he most dearly loved, and 
to whom, of all others, he would most willingly be 
obliged. 

How different the patriarch’s situation, every differ- 


LECT. XV, HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 399 

ent journey he undertakes ? He was first to Padan-aram, 
when he fled from the face of an angry brother. Then 
he was solitary and friendless, but free from care, free 
from sorrow. The second, flying from unkind rela¬ 
tions back again to Canaan, rich in children, rich in 
cattle, but troubled in spirit, oppressed with anxiety. 
And now we see him the third time in motion towards 
Egypt richer than ever, both in possessions and pros¬ 
pects, but bending under the pressure of old age, and 
its concomitant infirmities, worn out with calamity, 
and almost dead to joy. 

The family of Jacob, including the addition of what 
Joseph had gotten in Egypt, now amounted to seventy 
souls. And the priest of On’s daughter, whose alliance 
was doubtless intended as an honour to Joseph, is ho¬ 
noured and ennobled by being ranked in the family of 
Jacob, and by having become a mother in Israel. 

Scripture describes in its own inimitable manner, the 
meeting between the father and son. “And he sent 
Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto 
Goshen ; and they came into the land of Goshen. And 
Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet 
Israel his father, to Goshen; and presented himself 
unto him : and he fell on his neck, and wept on his 
neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now- 
let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou 
art yet alive,” Gen. xlvi. 28—30. This is honest na¬ 
ture, this is the genuine language of the heart. 

In Joseph we see filial piety and fraternal affection 
happily blended with wisdom, humility and discretion. 
His will was law in Egypt. To what honours, prefer- 
ments and emoluments might not the brothers and ne¬ 
phews of the governor-general have aspired ? But he 
consults their true happiness, by guarding them at once 
from the lauguor of idleness, and the madness of ambi¬ 
tion, Shepherds they were bred, and shepherds let 
them continue. Violent transitions ill suit the staid 
and serious periods of human life. 


400 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XV. 

His behaviour as a subject of Pharaoh is equally 
amiable and praise worthy. He never loses sight of 
the duties of his station, never becomes arrogant and 
assuming, in the confidence of royal favour. “ With¬ 
out him no man lifted up his hand or foot in all the 
land but without Pharaoh’s consent he will not dis¬ 
pose of a single field to his nearest relations. He is too 
wise, and too good, to make the mad attempt of some 
upstart favourites, to overcome national prejudices by 
dint of power and authority. The Egyptians held the 
profession of a shepherd in contempt, and he is not silly 
enough to dream of forcing it into respect. 

We have already taken occasion to praise the grati¬ 
tude, generosity and attachment of this prince, and 
with pleasure we repeat it. We see him nobly striving 
to discharge some part of the mighty obligation which 
had been laid upon him and his whole kingdom, by the 
son of the patriarch, by shewing all possible kindness 
to his father’s house. “ And Pharaoh spake unto 
Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come 
unto thee; the land of Egypt is before thee, in the 
best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to 
dwell, in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if 
thou knowest any men of activity among them, then 
make them rulers over my cattle,” Gen. xlvii. 5, 6. 
The interview between the venerable man himself, and 
this good prince, is highly interesting and instructive. 
Old age and virtue are honoured with the kind regard 
and attention of a king. Royalty is instructed, ad¬ 
monished and blessed by the wisdom of the sage, by 
the miseries of the man, by the piety and prayers of 
the prophet. Who gains by this visit ? Pharaoh to be 
sure. His kingdom is strengthened by the accession 
of seventy good subjects, with their skill, industry and 
wealth : and “ the effectual fervent prayers” of holy 
Israel were surely, Pharaoh himself being judge, com- 
pensation sufficient for the poor subsistence which a 
decayed, dying old man received from his bounty. 


LECT. XV. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 401 

It is with a mixture of shame and sorrow, that we 
bring forward the next passage in the history of Joseph. 
It exhibits him indeed as a most exquisite politician, 
who thoroughly understood the interests and the pas¬ 
sions of mankind; who knew perfectly well how to 
take advantage of the occasion; but, over-devoted to 
the prince who had advanced him, employing his ex¬ 
orbitant power, his superior skill and address, in plan¬ 
ning and perfecting a system of despotism, lay which 
the whole property of Egypt, together with the per¬ 
sons and liberties of all that mighty empire, were trans¬ 
ferred to the sovereign. We behold him most un¬ 
generously seizing the opportunity, which the growing 
distress of a lengthened famine afforded him, to ag¬ 
grandize one at the expense of millions. He first 
conveys all the money in the land into the royal trea¬ 
sury. • The cattle speedily follow. The increasing 
miseries of another unfavourable season, determine the 
wretched proprietors to part with their lands for food, 
and even reduce them to the dreadful necessity of of¬ 
fering to sell themselves for slaves, that they might live 
by their master’s bounty. It is true, the prime minister 
of Pharaoh did not push his advantage to the extremest 
length. But it must be acknowledged, he carried it 
much farther than became the friend of misery, and of 
mankind. With so good a man as this Pharaoh, per¬ 
haps absolute power might be lodged with some de¬ 
gree of safety; but who shall answer for other Pha¬ 
raohs who may arise, with the awful ability of doing 
mischief; possessing authority unfettered by legal re¬ 
straint ; possessing power not prompted by goodness, 
nor tempered by mercy, not deigning to stoop to the 
sacred rights of mankind? Do we not see, in the 
hardships which under the following reign the posterity 
of Israel endured from Egyptian despotism, the dan¬ 
ger of extending regal authority beyond the limits of 
reason? And thus, in the justice of Providence, the 
family of Joseph first felt the rod of that tyranny, 
Vol. I. 3 E 


40& HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XV 

which, with his own hands, he had established and ag 
grandized. Absolute sway can never be deposited 
with safety in any hands, but in his, who is constantly 
employing his power for the salvation of men, not their 
destruction. But we turn from a scene, which it is 
impossible to contemplate without both regret and 
resentment; happy to reflect, that we live in a country, 
where law, not will, is the rule of government; where 
the strong voice of royal prerogative is drowned and 
lost in the sterner, louder proclamation of, 4 4 Thus 
it is written.” We hasten from the vast, depopulated 
regions of state politics, to the pleasanter, fairer fields 
of private life. 

Jacob’s last days are by far his best. Seventeen 
years of unruffled tranquillity he passed in Egypt* en¬ 
joying the most pure and complete .of all human gra¬ 
tifications—that of witnessing the prosperity, and ex¬ 
periencing the attachment of a favourite and dutiful 
child. But how comes it to pass, that periods of hap¬ 
piness shrink into so little a measure in description, 
while scene of wo lengthen themselves out both to 
the sufferer, and to the relator ? We record our mer¬ 
cies on the sand of the sea shore, which the washing of 
every wave smooths again, and the perishing memorial 
is obliterated and lost. Calamity we engrave upon the 
rock, which preserves the inscription from age to age. 

But the famine has long been over, and why has not 
the patriarch thought of returning again to the land of 
his fathers ? Young men love to ramble from place to 
place; but old age is steady and stationary. Removal 
was attended with increasing difficulty every day, from 
the increase of his age and infirmities, and from the 
number of his family. Besides, Joseph’s presence 
was become necessary to the government of Egypt: 
and to part with him again, had been much worse than 
death. In a word, the whole was of the Lord, who 
was now laying the foundation of a fabric of wonders 
which should astonish the next generation, and every 


LKCT. XV. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH, 40$ 

future age of the world, by the report of them. One 
hundred and thirty years of wo, and seventeen of 
comfort and happiness, come both at length to a period. 
Let the wretched think of this, and bear their affliction 
with fortitude; let the prosperous consider it well, 
that they “ be not high minded, but fear. 5 - How 
dreadful is that misery which issues in despair of 
change! How exquisite is the happiness which fills 
every faculty of the soul, and whose measure is eter¬ 
nity ! But though Jacob be satisfied, to live and to die 
in Egypt, he feels and expresses the natural desire of 
all men, that his ashes should rest in death with the 
venerable dust of his forefathers, Perceiving there¬ 
fore in himself the decay of nature, and the approach " 
of dissolution, he sent for his belovecj son, and bound 
him by a solemn oath to carry his dead body to the cave 
of Machpelah; that he too, in death, might become 
an additional pledge to his family, that God would in 
due time make good to them that possession of Canaan 
which he had promised, 

Having obtained this security, his heart is at rest; 
and for himself he has no further worldly concern. 
But the symptoms of approaching dissolution are now 
upon him, sickness, weakness, and loss of sight. All 
the authority and wealth of Egypt cannot repel these 
irresistable invaders. Old age is a disease which death 
only can cure. But, even in old age and death, Jacob’s 
early affections are his constant and remaining ones, 
Rachel and Joseph, and his two sons, Ephraim and 
Manasseh. So long as the vital fluid visits his heart, 
the memory of his beloved Rachel vibrates upon it. 
The last beams of his expiring eyes seek for her image 
and representative, her son and grandchildren; and, 
even Benjamin seems, for a while, forgotten. Soon 
that wounded heart shall beat no more, and those weary 
eyes shall close in everlasting’ peace. 

The sickness of his father being reported to Joseph, 
he instantly quits every other employment, and, at 


404 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XV 

tended by his two sons, hastens to visit him to receive 
his last dying commands, his dying paternal benedic¬ 
tion, and to cherish and sooth his departing spirit with 
that cordial of cordials, filial tenderness and love. 
Though nature was come to its lowest ebb with our 
patriarch, grace was in full spring-tide. The eye of 
the body could not discern the nearest objects; could 
not even distinguish the sons of Joseph, but the eye of 
the spirit, the spirit of prophecy that was in him, pene¬ 
trated through the shades of night, and contemplated 
with clearness and accuracy, ages the most remote ; 
persons, situations and events the most distant. 

In this last and tender interview with his beloved 
son, he declares his intention to raise the children who 
had been born to him in Egypt, to their hereditary 
rank and honour in Israel; and he bequeaths to Joseph 
a particular possession which he had acquired by con¬ 
quest in Canaan : “ Moreover I have given to you one 
portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the 
hand of the Amorite, with my sword, and with my 
bow,” Gen. xlviii. 22. Deeming him entitled, and 
not without much appearance of reasons to the double 
portion of the first born. For his mother alone was 
the wife of Jacob’s choice. And had the course of 
reason and justice taken place, he should have had no 
children but by her. The posterity of Rachel, then, 
had an undoubted claim of preference, considering 
that in strict equity the whole would have belonged to 
them. At the same time he predicted the future for¬ 
tunes of his grandchildren by Joseph ; and, Heaven in¬ 
structed, foretells that the younger should in time ob¬ 
tain the pre-eminence in rank, populousness and im¬ 
portance over the elder. 

And now nothing remained but to declare and pub¬ 
lish his last will, or rather the will of God respecting 
his posterity, for many generations to come. But this 
would acquire a much larger space than is now left for 
it. And we cannot conclude our discourse without 


LECT. XV. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 405 

having brought Jacob and Joseph somewhat nearer to 
the times which they foresaw and foretold ; and to the 
glorious and exalted person, from resemblance to 
whom they derive all their dignity and consequence. 

Joseph sold into Egypt, degraded into the condition 
of a servant, exalted from the dungeon to the right 
hand of the throne, invested with power, drawing his 
perishing kindred unto him, and bestowing upon them 
a possession “ in the best of the land,” still prefigures 
to us, Jesus “ humbled and made of no reputation,” 
“ betrayed and sold into the hands of men,” “ lifted 
up,” on the cross, and thence to a throne above the 
skies : “ ascending on high, receiving gifts for men,” 
attracting an elect world unto him, to give them “ an 
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth 
not away.” 

“ Their eyes were hoi den, that they should not 
know him.” Luke xxiv. 16. “ And it came to pass 

as he sat at meat with them he took bread, and blessed 
it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were 
opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of 
their sight. And they said one to another, Did not 
our heart burn within us while he talked with us.by the 
way, and while he opened to us the scriptures,” Luke 
xxiv. 30, 32. 

“ And when all the land of Egypt was famished, 
the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh 
said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph : what he 
saith to you, do,” Gen. xli. 55. “ The Father judgeth 

no man : but hath committed all judgment unto the 
Son. That all men should honour the Son, even as 
the honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, 
honoureth not the Father which hath sent him,” John 
v. 22. 23. “ God did send me before you,” says 

Joseph to his brethren, “ to preserve life.” “ I go,” 
says Jesus to his disciples, “ to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come 
again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am. 


406 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XV* 

there ye may be also,” John xiv. 2, 3. Joseph despatches 
chariots and \yaggons to convey the feeble and infirm 
part of his father’s family to the land of Goshen ; and 
supplies them with all necessary and comfortable pro¬ 
vision by the way. It being expedient for Christ to 
go out of the world, he promises, and he sends “ the 
Comforter the Holy Ghost to shew his people things 
to come;” “ to lead them into all truth,” saying of 
him, “ He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of 
mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the 
Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall 
take of mine, and shew it unto you,” John xvi. 14, 15. 
“ Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity 
captive, thou hast received gifts for men : yea, for the 
rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among 
them,” Psalm lxviii 18. “ He that descended, is the 

same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that 
he might fill all things. And he gave some, apostles : 
and some, prophets : and some, evangelists: and some, 
pastors, and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, 
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the 
body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the 
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto 
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
fulness of Christ,” Eph. iv. 10, 13. 

Is your heart, O Christian, like Jacob’s, ready to 
faint, through unbelief, or through an excess of joy ? 
Let your spirit with his revive, as you ponder “ the ex¬ 
ceeding great and precious promises” of the gospel in 
your soul, as you consult the sacred record, as your 
evidence brightens up, as the first fruits of the Spirit 
are given and tasted. From Canaan there is a going 
out, from Goshen a going out, as an entering in ; but 
from Canaan that is above, there is “ no more go¬ 
ing out:” “they are before the throne of God, and 
serve him day and night in his temple, and he that 
sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They 
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither 


&.EC T. XV. HISTORY OF JACOB ANB JOSEPH. 407 

shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb 
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, 
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters : 
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,” 
Rev, vii. 15—17. “ He which testifieth these things, 

saith, Surely, I come quickly, Amen. Even so come, 
Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ‘be 
■with you all. Amen,” Rev. xxii. 20, 21. 


HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH, 


LECTURE XVI. 

And Jacob called unto his sons , and said y Gather your - 
selves together , that 1 may tell you that which shall 
befal you in the last days . And when Jacob had 
made an end of commanding his sons , he gathered 
up his feet into the bed\ and yielded up the ghost , 
and was gathered unto his people . Gen. xlix. 1—33. 


It is the wise ordinance of nature, that men should 
wish and endeavour to live as long as they can. A 
life even of pain and misery extinguishes not the love 
of life. Nay, the mind, by a sort of pleasing delu¬ 
sion, creates to itself an imaginary immortality, and 
strives to extend its mortal interest and existence be¬ 
yond the grave. Hence the anxiety of men to pro¬ 
vide for their families and friends that subsistence and 
comfort, which they are never to see them enjoy. 
Hence the trembling forebodings of paternal solicitude 
about his surviving offspring. Hence the hope that 
glistens in the dying eye, the blessing and the prayer 
that quaver on the faltering tongue, and the last gush 
of joy that visits the scarcely palpitating heart. 

At every period of existence, we are thinking of 
some future period of existence; and we fondly carry 
the feelings of the present hour into the distant scenes 
of life; as if we could be susceptible of pleasure and 
pain after we have ceased from feeling. The child 
connects, in idea, the amusements of his inexperienced 
age with the attainments of maturer years; the dying 
father continues to live in his offspring; and, till we 




LECT. XVI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 409 

are indeed gone, we dream and dream of being longer 
here. 

We have attended the progress of the patriarch Ja¬ 
cob through the various stages of a life unusually long, 
if we reckon woes for years, and compare it with the 
present standard of longevity ; but, short, if we con¬ 
sider the antediluvian scale ; short, if we consider to 
what a span the history of it shrinks; short, if we 
compare it with eternity. The sun has shone upon 
his head at length, but not till it is covered with grey 
hairs. He has found his Joseph again, and even em¬ 
braced his sons ; but not till the hands are reduced to 
do the office of the eyes. He walks down the steep of 
life in tranquillity, but his limbs tremble under him. 
His favourite son is wise and good, exalted to deserve 
honours ; but his advancement has it foundation in the 
unexampled villany of nine of his brothers. He is 
now arrived at that point to which the sorrows and 
joys of life equally tend, in which all events of what¬ 
ever complexion must finally issue. Feeling in him¬ 
self the approach of dissolution, and warned by that 
Spirit who had been his comforter in all his tribulations, 
he summons his children to his presence, and, with a 
mixture of paternal severity and tenderness, anxiety 
and confidence, administers his last dying counsels to 
them. 

It belongs to another province than that of history, 
to illustrate and expound this address of the expiring 
patriarch to his sons. Indeed, it is a passage of per¬ 
haps as much difficulty as any in scripture. The im¬ 
perfect knowledge we have of the sacred language, the 
abundant use made of metaphorical and figurative ex¬ 
pression, allusion to historical facts, which are either 
not recorded at all, or rather hinted than related, to¬ 
gether with the natural ambiguity and obscurity of 
prophecy, all concur here to render Jacob’s meaning 
in many places hard to be understood, if not totally 
inexplicable. Instead therefore of spending your 

Vox. I. 3 F 


410 HISTORY OF JACOB ANB JOSEPH. LECT. XVI, 

time, and abusing your patience, by dry unprofitable 
criticism on points which we frankly acknowledge we 
do not comprehend, we shall endeavour to look through 
the passage j*ustas it stands in the common translation, 
into the dying patriarch’s heart, and observe how the 
affections of the man blend themselves with the saga¬ 
city and penetration of the prophet. 

Following the order of nature, he addresses himself 
first to Reuben, and fondly recollects the first emotions 
which filled his heart on becoming a father. He speaks 
to him as raised up and destined of Providence to birth¬ 
right honours and privileges, but as having degraded 
and dishonoured himself bv a base unnatural crime, and 
therefore rejected of God. And thereby men are in¬ 
structed, that no superiority of birth, of fortune, of abili¬ 
ties, can counterbalance the weight of atrocious wick¬ 
edness. In this censure, the shame, sorrow, resentment 
and regret of a dying father seem to mingle their force. 

The two next sons of Jacob had associated together 
for the perpetration of an unheard of piece of cruelty, 
impiety and deceit. Jacob had sharply reproved them 
at the time it was committed, and now gives his dying 
testimony against their barbarous and perfidious con¬ 
duct, in terms of just indignation and abhorrence, and 
prophetically threatens them with division and disper¬ 
sion. But this, which was, and intended to be a se¬ 
vere punishment to themselves, turned out in the ac¬ 
complishment of the prediction, as the punishments of 
Heaven often are, an unspeakable honour and benefit to 
their posterity. Levi in particular “ divided in Ja¬ 
cob, and scattered in Israel,” was thereby rendered only 
more illustrious and important, being dignified as the 
priests and ministers of the most high God, ill the 
presence of all their brethren. The crime of Reuben 
affected his descendants to the latest posterity. For 
they never regained their original advantage of birth ; 
never furnished judge or general, priest, prophet or 
prince to Israel; but the offence of Levi was expiated 
in his own person, and reached not in its effects to his 


LECT. XVI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 411 

offspring. The moral consequences of guilt ought in 
justice to extend to the guilty themselves alone ; but 
the civil effects may and often do involve the innocent; 
and that without any imputation of justice. The son 
ought not to suffer death for the murder which his 
father has committed ; but he may forfeit for ever his 
hereditary honours by his father’s treason. 

By what apparent title was Judah, the fourth son of 
Jacob, raised to supremacy over his brethren ? Nei¬ 
ther his moral character, nor intellectual abilities, nei¬ 
ther natural pre-eminence nor parental partiality seem 
to confer upon him this high distinction. It must 
therefore simply be resolved into the will of Him who 
“ doth according to his will in the armies of heaven, 
and among the inhabitants of the earth : and none can 
stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou,” 
Dan. iv. 35. It was of Providence, who raiseth up 
one. and bringeth another down. But how came Ja¬ 
cob acquainted with this ? The son on whom he con¬ 
ferred the double portion of primogeniture ; the son 
whom he early dressed out in a coat of many colours; 
the son of Rachel; the son of his old age; the son al¬ 
ready so near a throne, and still nearer to his heart, 
would undoubtedly, could a father’s fondness have dis¬ 
posed, succeeded to the royal dignity, or the sanctity 
of the priesthood, or the still higher dignity of giving 
brith to the promised Messiah, or to all the three. But 
the purposes of Heaven do not always keep pace with 
the destinations of rnen. They conform not themselves 
to the conclusions of human reason or the propensities 
of the human heart. Not gentle and forgiving Joseph, 
but stern, unrelenting, merciless Levi gives birth to a 
race of priests. And lewd, incontinent, incestuous 
Judah, not chaste, modest, self-denied Joseph, becomes 
the father of kings, and the progenitor of Shiloh. For 
what with men is all essential, all important, is with 
God only some little petty circumstance. And what 
human understanding treats as merely a casual, acci 
dental circumstance, Providence exalts into the mighty 


412 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XVI. 

hinge on which the fate of empires and of worlds de¬ 
pends. Men bend before a throne, and despise virtue; 
God pours respect upon goodness, and tramples upon 
a throne. 

I must now express a wish, which I ought to have 
done earlier in my discourse, namely, that those who 
attend the Lecture of this evening, had with attention 
previously perused the whole of this forty ninth chap¬ 
ter of Genesis. As without at least a general know¬ 
ledge of it, much of what has been said, and still may 
be said, will possibly be unintelligible ; and one great, 
perhaps the principal end of the Lecture, will be ob¬ 
tained, if any are thereby induced to search the scrip¬ 
tures more carefully, and to compare spiritual things 
with spiritual more diligently. 

Jacob then, guided by the spirit of prophecy, as 
lately in preferring Ephraim to Manasseh, and not fol¬ 
lowing his own spirit, which would gladly have given 
the preference to Joseph, as his father’s partiality 
would have set Esau before himself, assigns the king¬ 
dom to his fourth son, with a profusion of images and 
emblems significant of power, authority and plenty. 
“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise : 
thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies : thy 
father’s children shall bow dow r n before thee. Judah 
is a lion’s whelp ; from the prey, my son, thou art 
gone up : he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and 
as an old lion : who shall rouse him up/’ Gen. xlix. 8, 
9. “ A lion’s whelp, a lion, and an old lion ; gar¬ 

ments washed in wine, and clothes in blood of grapes; 
eyes red with wine, teeth white with milk,” is the 
strong figurative language employed by a prophetic 
father, to represent the invincible force, the secure dig¬ 
nity and majesty ; the rich abundance, allotted of God 
the disposer of all things, to this prerogative tribe. 

But the prediction of importance above all the rest, 
is that which we have in the tenth verse, u The scep¬ 
tre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from 


LECT. XVI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 413 

between his feet, until Shiloh come: and unto him 
shall the gathering* of the people be.” Now, what¬ 
ever difficulties may occur in the solution of particular 
words and phrases in this prophecy, it is certain the 
patriarch has his mind filled with an object peculiarly 
great; that he foresees regal and legislative power con¬ 
ferred on this branch of his family, for a long succes¬ 
sion of ages, and until the arrival of a certain distin¬ 
guished person or event, expressed by the term Shiloah, 
who should make a remarkable change in the state of 
Judah’s family, and of the world in general. And of 
all the persons and events that have appeared from the 
death of Jacob to this hour, to none are the words, 
with any degree of propriety, applicable, but to Ja¬ 
cob’s Son and Lord, in whom the royal line termina¬ 
ted ; in whose trial and condemnation the posterity of 
Jacob solemnly renounced all legal and judicial autho¬ 
rity, and voluntarily submitted to Caesar as their so¬ 
vereign ; and to whom Providence, by a chain of mi¬ 
racles at first, and an uninterrupted interposition, for 
almost one thousand eight hundred years, has drawn 
and united the nations of the earth, according to the 
letter of the prophecy, “ to him shall the gathering of 
the people be.” We pretend not to say, that the dy¬ 
ing patriarch had a clear and distinct foreknowledge of 
the object; or that his words are a full historical de¬ 
scription of the period to which they refer. It is suf¬ 
ficient for our purpose, if events which have certainly 
come to pass, are such as warrant a sober application 
of them to a prediction so singular, in circumstances 
so peculiar, and at a period so remote. 

A very close investigation of the history, character, 
and local circumstances of the six tribes whose fathers 
are next named in order, would probably be found to 
justify what their prophetic parent here foretold con¬ 
cerning them. But, with him, we hasten them by, 
with him to come at a nobler, dearer object; where 
parental affection fixes with peculiar delight; which 


414 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XVI. 

the understanding, the heart and the prophetic soul 
unite to establish, to exalt, to enlarge. 

The only way to do justice to the prophet, to the 
prophecy, and to the Spirit which inspired the one to 
utter the other, is simply to read the words, and then 
to ponder them in our hearts. “ Joseph is a fruitful 
bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches 
run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved 
him, and shot at him, and hated him. But his bow 
abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were 
made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob : 
from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. Even 
by the God of thy hither, who shall help thee, and by 
the Almighty who shall bless thee, with blessings of 
heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, 
blessings of the breast and of the womb. The bless¬ 
ings of thy father have prevailed, above the blessings 
of my progenitors : unto the utmost bound of the 
everlasting hills : they shall be on the head of Joseph, 
and on the crown of the head of him that was separate 
from his brethren,” Gen. xiix. 22—26. Is there an 
appearance of incoherence here, is there a redundancy 
of expression, is there a mixing of metaphor ? It is 
but the more emphatically expressive of the meltings, 
the overflowings of an affectionate heart, collecting its 
last remains ot vigour, retarding for a moment the stroke 
of death, returning yet once again but to return no 
more—to ancient feelings and propensities ; expiring 
in the contemplation of the lasting felicity of a dearer 
self: the lover, the husband of Rachel, before his nerves 
are for ever unstrung, his eyes for ever closed, his 
tongue for ever silent, dwelling on the name of her 
beloved offspring, turning the almost extinguished 
orbs towards his amiable countenance, and straining 
his darling Joseph in his last embrace. 

He has hardly strength left to mention the name of 
Benjamin. But nature, while death leaves to Jacob 
any remainder of her empire, continues possessed of a 


LECT. XVI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 415 

fond memory, a discerning judgment, and glowing 
affections. But she can no more ; the voice fails, the 
limbs contract, the breath departs, the artery beats no 
more ; the heart of Jacob is at length at rest. 

The death of a parent is an event peculiarly affect¬ 
ing. The source of our own life seems thereby as it 
were dried up. While our parents live, we think we 
have a barrier betwixt us and the grave: but that being 
removed, the bold invader appears advancing upon us 
with hastier strides. If we look forward, bt hold no 
bulwark to defend us ; if backward, our very children 
are warning us of the necessity of our departure ; they 
press upon our heels, they are ready to lay their hands 
upon our eyes. Death ever so long expected, ever so 
visibly approaching, nevertheless shocks and surprises 
when it comes at length. 

Joseph, having given way to a burst of sorrow over 
the lifeless clay of his honoured father, sets about the 
speedy execution of his solemn trust, in discharge of 
the oath which he had taken. The highest, respect we 
can pay the dead, is to fulfil their living desires. He 
accordingly gives commandment to have the body em¬ 
balmed according to the manner of the Egyptians. 
This practice, which had its origin in necessity, de¬ 
generated in process of time into the grossest ostenta¬ 
tion, and the most absurd vanity. During the inun¬ 
dations of the Nile, it was necessary to employ art to 
preserve dead bodies from putrefaction, till the waters 
subsided. But what was at first merely a temporary 
expedient against the inconveniency of heat, moisture 
and corruption, at a season when sepulture was impos¬ 
sible, by degrees—refined, shall I say ? in the hands 
of that ingenious people, into a work of infinite skill 
and expense. For so silly and vain-glorious is the 
human mind, that it strives for the gratification of pride, 
in objects the most humiliating and mortifying. We 
are far from charging Joseph with acting from a motive 
so wretched. The journey to Canaan was long; it 


416 HISTORY or JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XVI. 

was needful to use the common methods, to keep the 
corpse from becoming offensive ; perhaps he deemed 
it decent and wise to conform, in a matter not directly 
sinful, to the practice, and to yield to the prejudices of 
the people among whom he dwelt. Whatever were 
his motives, certain it is, that in embalming persons of 
distinction, a considerable time was employed, and 
large sums expended. Threescore and ten days at 
least were necessary ; forty days in filling the body 
with aromatic drugs and spices, and thirty in harden¬ 
ing and drying it with salt and nitre. Some Jewish 
writers, fond of magnifying in every thing their ex¬ 
traction, give out, that Jacob, by express order of 
Pharaoh, was embalmed after the manner of the princes 
of Egypt, as a farther mark of gratitude and respect 
to Joseph ; and that this explains the account we have 
in scripture, of the general mourning of the Egyptians 
for him, during the seventy days of the embalming. 

At the end of that period, Joseph makes application 
to the king for liberty to go to Canaan, to bury his 
dead father. And here we have another not unamus¬ 
ing picture of the ancient manners of an Egyptian court. 
Joseph the Saviour of Egypt, the second man in the 
kingdom, might not go into the royal presence in a 
mourning habit. At such pains has the world been, 
and such pains it still takes, to keep truth from the 
eyes and the ears of kings. Unhappy wretches ! How 
can they be wise and good ? Every creature with whom 
they are connected is in a conspiracy to keep them 
from the knowledge of themselves. The poor man 
called a monarch must not see a memorial of death, 
because death brings him to the level of other men. 
Pity it is, so well conditioned a prince as Pharaoh 
should want any help to wisdom. Studious of the 
honour and comfort of so good and faithful a servant, 
he grants an immediate assent to his request, and per¬ 
mits him to employ the whole pomp of Egypt, if it 


liECT* XVI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 417 

might testify respect to the memory of the honest 
patriarch. Mark, my friends, how short the transition, 
how sudden the change. It is but a few short years 
since the wagons of Pharaoh were sent, with much 
form, to carry Jacob into Egypt; and now the same 
pomp is employed to convey his breathless clay back 
to Canaan again. Alas, alas ! the ceremonies of a co¬ 
ronation, and of a funeral, differ only in a few trifling- 
circumstances. Jacob is embalmed by the phisi- 
cians ; but behold he is preserved by a more precious 
perfume than all the spices of Egypt—the pious tears 
of a dutiful and affectionate child; and his memory 
preserved on this never-dying record, sends forth a fra¬ 
grance which time cannot waste, nor use diminish. 

The account is now at length closed, and the balance 
struck. And how does it stand ? A life of one hun¬ 
dred and forty-seven years in all; of which not above 
a ninth part passed in any tolerable degree of peace 
and comfort, and that portion of it at a period when 
the heart has scarcely any taste of pleasure at all. The 
early, the susceptible part of his life was filled with a 
succession of distresses of the most disastrous and 
overwhelming nature; he was striken, smitten there 
where the heart most sensibly feels. But let us turn 
the page and examine the articles which make for him. 
An early declared, and continually supported favour 
and preferrence of Heaven in his behalf —Early, con¬ 
stant, habitual impressions of piety—The covenant 
promise and presence of the Almighty—The testimo¬ 
ny of a conscience void of offence—The aggrandize¬ 
ment, and the virtues of his beloved son—Seventeen 
years of uninterrupted quiet, with daily growing pros¬ 
pects of prosperity to his family ; and the consolation 
of expiring at last in the arms of Joseph—O, the bal¬ 
ance is greatly in his favour! Who shall dare to say 
God has dealt hardly with him ? We shall make Jacob 
himself judge of the case now, and defy him to sav, 
Vol. I. 3 G 


418 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XVI. 

“ All these things are against me.” The patriarch 
makes a greater figure in death than ever he had done 
in his life. The house of Israel, the seed of Abraham 
is now beginning to make a considerable appearance 
in the world. Egyptians forego their prejudices to do 
honour to the remains of the old shepherd of Beer- 
sheba; and the nations of Canaan are awakened to 
attention and respect, to a family which they hated or 
despised. 

But, while the world is conferring empty, unavail¬ 
ing respect on the insensible dust, the immortal spirit 
has winged its flight to those bright regions, where 
the faithful repose in perfect and everlasting peace; 
where the smile of God obliterates all recollection of 
the favour of princes, and buries in eternal oblivion the 
pains and sorrows of a few transitory years. If saints 
in glory have any recollection of what passed upon 
earth, as undoubtedly they have, what satisfaction 
must it afford to the glorified patriarch to call to remem¬ 
brance the various stages of his pilgrimage state, the 
dark and dreary paths through which Providence led 
him, and which he once feared were leading him to 
destruction and death, now that he finds them all cer- 
tainly and directly tending to his father’s house above ? 
If saints in glory have any knowledge of what passes 
upon earth, as perhaps they may, what must it have 
been to Jacob, from the lofty height of a throne above 
the skies, to mark the order and course of Providence, 
in bringing to pass upon his family the things which 
were seen in prophetic vision, darkly, and at a dis¬ 
tance, and spoken in much weakness and obscurity ? 
What must it be to see the Gentile nations gathered 
together to Shiloh; to see the glory with the sceptre 
departed from judah, but a crown, whose lustre shall 
never fade, put upon the head of Messiah the Prince ? 
If saints in glory have any intercourse with their fel¬ 
low-partakers in bliss, what must it have been to Jacob, 
after treading in the footsteps of Abraham and Isaac 


LECT. XVI. HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 419 

his fathers, to overtake and be joined to them in that 
world, where men are as the angels of God in heaven; 
and to see his faithful children, his Joseph in particu¬ 
lar, gathered unto him, every one in his own order, 
their day of trial also over, and their warfare accom¬ 
plished ? What must it have been to all the ransomed 
of the Lord, to see their common Saviour returning on 
high, leading captivity captive, triumphing over prin¬ 
cipalities and powers ? If there be joy in heaven over 
one sinner that repenteth, what must have been the joy 
of that day, when an elect world, in the person of their 
divine Head, took possession of a throne eternal in the 
heavens ? 

The next Lecture will conclude the history of Joseph, 
and the book of Genesis, and bring down that of the 
world to its two thousand three hundred and ninth 
year, one thousand six hundred and ninety-five years 
before Christ. 

—Jacob, like his forefathers, died, and was buried, 
and saw corruption; but he whom God raised up died 
indeed, and was buried, but saw no corruption. Jacob 
could observe, be offended with, and reprove the faults 
of his children, but Christ has power to forgive sins, 
and to change a sinful nature. The day which Jacob 
saw afar off, is that which arose under Jesus in all its 
meridian splendour, and continues to shine unto this 
day. The body of Jacob, by the skill of physicians, 
was for a while saved from petrefaction ; the body of 
Christ, by the almighty power of God, was preserved, 
so that not a bone of it was broken on the cross, not a 
particle of it lost and left in the grave. The corpse of 
the patriarch deposited in the cave of Machpelah, in 
Canaan, was a token and pledge to his family, that in 
due time they should return thither, and enjoy lasting 
possession ; the resurrection and ascension of Christ’s 
glorious body, gives full security to all his spiritual 
seed, that “ those who sleep in Jesus, God wiil bring 
with him “ Christ the head first, afterwards they 


420 HISTORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. LECT. XVI. 

that are Christ’s at his coming.” The possession, of 
which Jacob’s burial was the pledge, was itself partial 
and transitory, was long ago forfeited, and has long ago 
expired; but the succession ensured by the ascension 
of Christ, is “ to an inheritance incorruptible, undefil¬ 
ed, and that fadeth not away.” Egyptian art might 
keep together the dust of Jacob for a while ; but the 
power of God, through the grace that is in Christ, 
guards every fragment and shred of it even until now, 
and “will raise it up again at the last day.” The 
afflicted man Jacob saw the end of all his troubles in 
the friendly tomb ; Jacob, the believer, the saint in 
bliss, sees no end to his joy, but a still beginning, 
never-ending eternity. “ Let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his.” To me 
to live let it be Christ, and then to die it shall be gain. 
Let us be followers of them “ who through faith and 
patience, inherit the promises.” “ Be faithful unto 
death, and ye shall receive a crown of life.” “ The 
hour cometh, when all who are in their graves shall 
hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall live.” 
“ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first re¬ 
surrection : on such the second death hath no power, 
but they shall be priests of God, and of Christ, and 
shall reign with him a thousand years,” Rev. xx. 6. 


t 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECTURE XVII. 


And Joseph said unto his brethren , I die ; and God will 
surely visit you , and bring you out of this land, unto 
the land which he sware to Abraham , to Isaac , and to 
Jacob . And Joseph took an oath of the children of 
Israel saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall 
carry up my bones from hence . So Joseph died , 
being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalm 
ed him , and he was put in a coffin in Egypt — Gen. 
1 . 24 — 26 . 

TThE events of a short and uncertain life upon earth, 
derive all their importance from the relation which 
they bear to a future and eternal state of existence. 
Remove the prospects of immortality, and what is left 
worthy the attention and pursuit of a man? What is 
reputation ? A breath of empty air : honour, a bubble; 
riches, a bird eternally on the wing; youth, beauty, 
health, fading flowers of the spring; the splendour of 
kings, childish pageantry; a crown, a toy. That alone 
is valuable which time cannot impair, nor morality 
destroy ; that which, though the man die, continues to 
live and speak; that which, despised or neglected of 
men, is of high estimation in the sight of God. If in 
this life only there were hope, the happiest of mankind 
were a wretched, dark, comfortless being. But for the 
consolations of religion Jacob must have sunk under 
the accumulated weight of calamity upon calamity : and 
Joseph destitute of a principle of grace in the heart, 



422 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. LECT. XVII. 


had fallen in the hour of temptation, or despaired in 
the day of adversity ; had risen into pride when exalted 
to honour, or deviated into resentment and revenge 
when armed with power. But, directed and supported 
by this celestial guide, he descends into the pit unde¬ 
jected, undismayed : spurns with holy indignation the 
solicitations of illicit desire; preserves moderation in the 
height of prosperity, and sinks the, resentments of the 
injured man, in the meekness and gentleness of the 
affectionate brother. A character so near perfection 
seldom occurs; we have therefore been tempted to 
dwell upon it the longer, and now that we must part 
with it, we bid it farewell, with no little regret. 

The last office in which we left Joseph employed was 
the burial of his venerable parent. In this he at once 
acquitted a solemn obligation ; fulfilled the law of hu¬ 
manity, gratitude and filial duty; and acted faith in the 
covenant and promise of God given to his forefathers. 
He is never so much an Egyptian, as to forget he is an 
Israelite ; but, engaged in the duties of a son of Israel, 
he remembers he was a naturalized Egyptian. Hav¬ 
ing deposited the sacred pledge in the cave of the field 
of Machpelah, he and his brethren and all his retinue 
return into the land of Egypt. 

Terror even haunts the guilty conscience ; and men, 
whether they be good or bad, are apt to judge of others 
by themselves. The brothers of Joseph considered the 
life of their father as the only bulwark betwixt them 
and their brother’s anger. Knowing themselves to be 
criminal, they conclude he must be resentful; knowing 
he had the power, they suppose he must needs have 
the inclination to punish them. O how guilt degrades, 
debases the spirit ol a man ! In bad minds how quick 
the transition from extreme to extreme ! How nearly 
allied to each other, vices seemingly remote, contra¬ 
dictory and opposite ! These reflections are all striking¬ 
ly exemplified and illustrated in the conduct of Jacob’s 
sons. We see malice and cruelty passing into suspi- 


LECT. XVII. HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


423 


cion and timidity ; insolence but a single step removed 
from fawning, flattery and submission; and bold defi¬ 
ance of Heaven changing in a moment into supersti¬ 
tious horror. They had before done obeisance to 
Joseph, not knowing who he was, and so fulfilled the 
dreams of his early youth, which had given them such 
mortal offence. With a meanness equal to their former 
haughtiness, they now voluntarily prostrate themselves 
in his presence, and humbly deprecate that wrath 
which they had so unjustly provoked. What a pitia¬ 
ble, what a contemptible figure a man makes, overtaken 
and reproved by his own wickedness ! 

A little mind would have enjoyed this triumph of 
acknowledged superiority, if it did not resort to retalia¬ 
tion. But a great soul like Joseph’s gives only into 
emotions worthy of itself. Seeing his father’s children 
thus humbled before him, he dissolves into tears. Had 
he been ever so much inclined to vengeance, adjured 
by the awful names of his father and his God, his heart 
must have relented, and anger must have turned to 
pity. But in truth, he had never harboured one thought 
of revenge, and the offenders possessed an infinitely 
better security in the generosity and compassion of their 
brother, than in the protection of their father’s feeble 
arm, parental authority, or frail life. Being at no vari¬ 
ance with them, entertaining no grudge, mark what 
pains he takes to reconcile them to themselves; “ But 
as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant 
it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save 
much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will 
nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted 
them, and spake kindly unto them,” Gen. 1. 20—21. 

Such is the exalted triumph of true goodness. Not 
satisfied with merely bestowing forgiveness, it strives 
to close the wounds which guilt has made : it aims not 
only at bettering the external condition of the penitent, 
but also at meliorating his inward frame; it not only 
proclaims peace to the offender, but likewise generously 
studies the means of restoring him to peace with his 


424 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XVII. 


own conscience. This is the glorious triumph of God 
himself, who overcomes evil with good, turns enmity 
into love, and obliterates the foul traces of undutiful¬ 
ness and ingratitude, by painting over them the fairer, 
softer features of filial tenderness and dutiful submission. 
And in no one respect can human nature so nearly re¬ 
semble the divine, as in pardoning transgression in 
shewing mercy, in bestowing on the guilty outward 
and inward peace, and burying and effacing painful and 
mortifying recollections in total and everlasting obli¬ 
vion. Thus Joseph comforted his brethren, and spake 
kindly unto them. This spirit, a greater than Joseph, 
by precept, by example, and by the model which he 
prescribed for our devotions, has recommended and 
enforced; and thus, by habitually drinking into it, 
“ men shall at length become perfect, as their Father 
in heaven is perfect.” 

At the death of his father, Joseph was fifty-six years 
old. The history of the remainder, containing a period 
of fifty-four years more, shrinks into a few short sen¬ 
tences. But they exhibit a beautiful and instructive 
picture of a generous spirit, of great and growing do¬ 
mestic happiness, of a capacious prophetic soul,and of 
a faithful, obedient and believing heart. He had the 
satisfaction of living to see his posterity of the fourth 
generation, by Ephraim his younger son, and of the 
third, by Manasseh his first-born. He had the felicity 
of beholding Israel greatly increased, and the promise 
of God hastening to its accomplishment; resigned to 
die in Egypt, but looking and longing for a sepulchre 
in Canaan. Jacob’s, a life of almost uninterrupted 
misery, is lengthened out to the hundred and forty- 
seventh year; Joseph’s with the exception of a very 
fevv years, a scene of splendour, usefulness and prospe¬ 
rity, is cut short at a hundred and ten. But the differ¬ 
ence dwindles into mere nothing before Him, with 
whom “ a thousand years are as one day, and one day 
as a thousand years.” Grief has its cure, usefulness 
ks period, glory its decay, and pride its destroyer in 


LECT. XVII. HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 425 

the grave. As his dying hither held him engaged by 
a solemn oath not to bury him but in Canaan, so Joseph 
binds his posterity by a similar obligation to carry his 
remains, when opportunity offered, to the sacred spot 
where the sleeping dust of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob 
reposed. Whatever had been his power or possessions 
in Egypt, this is all he bequeaths to his children: his 
last, dying will, disposes of nothing but his bones. But 
it is not merely the natural desire of the man, to rest in 
death with his fathers; it is the zeal, piety and wisdom 
of the believer, leaving to his family a solemn pledge of 
his dying confidence in the truth and faithfulness of 
God. Accordingly, the dead body of Joseph becomes 
no inconsiderable object in the history of Israel, from 
this time forward, to their final establishment in Canaan. 
With much pomp it was now embalmed; with much 
care it was preserved in their deepest distresses and 
affliction ; in all their wanderings it accompanied them, 
and never, till they rested in the peaceable possession 
of the land of promise, did it rest in the peaceful tomb. 

But had the credit of Joseph declined before his 
death ? Had Pharaoh died, and Egypt forgotten to be 
grateful, that no royal mandate is issued for a splendid 
public interment; that an affectionate nation accom¬ 
panies not, with tears, the son, as they did the father, 
to his long home? Miserable would Joseph have been, 
had not his happiness rested on a surer foundation than 
the smile of kings, or the applause of a multitude. 
Who shall be vain of any thing, when such a man as 
Joseph must be content to obtain that by entreaty and 
permission, which opce he could have enjoined by 
authority. His pious attention to the dead is now re¬ 
quitted by the pious attention of the living. And thus 
of ail the debts contracted by us, none is so certain of 
being repaid, as the last solemn offices of humanity. 
Here, we only give and receive a little short credit; 
and the day of our burial hastens on, with rapid wings, 
to bring the account to a balance. 

Thus lived, and thus died, Joseph the son of Jacob, 
Vo;.. I. 3 H 


426 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XVII. 


A man, whom all nations, and every description of 
mankind, have united to praise and admire. Whose 
character and fortunes the pen of inspiration has vouch¬ 
safed'to delineate with singular accuracy, and with un¬ 
common strength of colouring. Who in every stage of 
life, in youth, in manhood, and even to old age, inte¬ 
rests, instructs and delights every reader of taste, virtue 
and sensibility. Who, in adversity preserved inflexi¬ 
ble constancy; and, in elevation next to royalty, adorn¬ 
ed his high station by unaffected simplicity, incorrup¬ 
tible integrity, native, unassuming dignity, fervent piety, 
invariable moderation, and uniform modesty and humil¬ 
ity. Who, as a son, a brother, a servant, a father, a 
master, a ruler, is equally amiable and praise-worthy. 
Who, to the sagacity of the statesman added the pene¬ 
tration of the prophet, the firmness of the believer, and 
the purity of the saint. Who, by the blessing of Provi¬ 
dence, was saved through dangers the most threatening, 
to pity, to forgive, and to preserve those who meant to 
have destroyed him ; and who, in a word, was miracu¬ 
lously raised up by God from an obscure station, to be 
an instrument of much temporal good to nations; to 
mature and execute the plans of eternal Wisdom, and to 
tipify to a dark age, Him who is fairer than the children 
of men, and through whom all the blessings of nature, of 
providence and of redemption are communicated to man¬ 
kind. We cannot therefore, as Christians, conclude his 
history better, than by considering it somewhat more 
particularly, as a typical representation of the person, the 
character, the offices, and the work of the Messiah. 

We know the generation of Joseph the son of Rachel, 
and the well-beloved of Jacob—Eut u who shall declare 
the generation” of the well-beloved Son of God, u the 
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ?” 
Early, unambiguous prognostics foretold the future 
greatness of Joseph. Thus the tongues of a thousand 
prophets ; signs in heaven and signs in earth ; the dis¬ 
position of angels singly, and of a multitude of the hea¬ 
venly host together, before and at his birth, conduct 


LECT. XVII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


427 


the babe of Bethlehem from the manger to the throne. 
Some allegorists, who inquire rather curiously than 
wisely, have carried the analogy so far as to represent 
Joseph’s coat of many colours, the distinguishing badge 
of his father’s partial affection, as typical of the body 
prepared for Christ, “ curiously wrought in the lower 
parts of the earth.” When imagination, unrestrained 
by reason, and unconducted by scripture, is set to work, 
any thing may be made to resemble any thing. But if 
the interests of true piety be prompted, we must give, 
as we need and expect, much allowance ; and so long 
as a metaphor presumes not to pass for a text or an ar¬ 
gument, let metaphorical language be examined with 
candor, and the bold flights of an honest heart be treat¬ 
ed with tenderness and respect. While we thus plead 
indulgence for others, we are perhaps making an apolo¬ 
gy that is necessary for ourselves; and far, very far from 
this place be the vanity of thinking that “surely we 
are the people, and that wisdom shall die with us.” 

We remarked of Joseph, that in making his obser¬ 
vations upon, and in giving the report of his brother’s 
conduct, a mixture of self-sufficiency, malevolence and 
presumption might possibly insinuate itself; but in the 
censure and reproof administered by the Brother and 
Friend of mankind, we always discover unmixed be- 
nevolence and gentleness; severity against the offence 
without acrimony towards the offender; slowness to 
condemn, readiness to forgive ; a disposition to palliate 
and excuse the worst of crimes, instead of eagerness 
and zeal to detect, magnify and expose the least. Ja¬ 
cob’s affectionate embassy to his sons in the wilderness, 
by the mouth of his beloved Joseph, in all its circum¬ 
stances, has already been noticed as exactly typical of 
the message borne from the compassionate Father of 
men, to his wandering exiled children, by the Son of 
his love. Who can think of Joseph following his bre¬ 
thren from place to place with thoughts of peace, and 
meeting in return with hatred and violence, without 
reflecting the next moment on the words of the evan- 


428 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


LECT. XVII- 


gelist, “he came to his own, and his own received him 
not.” “ Not this man, but Barabbas.” “ Away with 
him, crucify him, crucify him.” “O Jerusalem, Je¬ 
rusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them 
which are sent unto thee, how often would I have ga¬ 
thered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth 
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not,” 
Matt, xxviii. 37. 

Joseph was sold at the suggestion of Judah to the 
Ishmaelites for a few pieces of silver. The counterpart 
of this forces itself upon our imagination. “ The Son 
of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men ;” 
“mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which 
did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against 
me,” Psalm xli. 9. Judas, betrayest thou the son of 
man with a kiss ?■” Joseph faithful and just to Potiphar 
and to Pharaoh; Joseph in the form of a servant, and 
the business and affairs of his master prospering in his 
hand, lead us directly to him of whom it is spoken in 
prophetic vision, “ Behold, my servant shall deal pru¬ 
dently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very 
high,” Isaiah lii. 13. Joseph assaulted with tempta- 
tation, resisting and overcoming, conducts us with 
our tempted Saviour to the top of the exceeding high 
mountain, to the pinnacle of the temple, and shews us all 
the fiery darts,of the wicked one falling harmless on the 
ground, because striking on the shield of faith ; and 
“the sword of the Spirit, the word of God,” like 
lightning penetrating and piercing the armour of the 
adversary, Joseph unjustly accused, condemned and 
punished, without straining for an illusion, points to 
Jesus, “numbered with transgressors,” charged with 
crimes which he never committed, and upon a trial, a 
mockery of all legal proceeding, condemned with the 
vilest of mankind to the death of a slave. 

But we see Joseph even in prison and disgraced, pre¬ 
serving dignity, exercising usefulness, disclosing fu¬ 
turity to his fellow prisoners, restoring the one to the 
presence and favour of Pharaoh, leaving the other to 


LECT. XVII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


429 


perish under the weight of the royal displeasure. Thus 
we see Jesus, from the exalted infamy of the cross, dis¬ 
pensing more than life and death, opening and shutting 
the gates of heaven, assuming to himself the right of 
disposing of seats in the paradise of God; carrying the 
penitent with him to the presence of his Father and his 
God; leaving the impenitent to die in his sins. But 
there is here this remarkable difference, Joseph be¬ 
sought the chief butler to remember him, hoping to owe 
his enlargement to the powerful, compassionate and 
grateful intercession of that officer; but Jesus, as Lord 
of the worlds visible and invisible, as the sovereign dis¬ 
poser of all things, by his own power exalts his fellow 
sufferer from the cross to a throne above the skies. Be-, 
hold Joseph translated from the dungeon to the palace, 
from the condition of a prisoner and a slave, to that of a 
mighty prince; and in that, behold Jesus emerging 
from the tomb, ascending above all height, exalted to 
the sovereign administration of all things in heaven and 
in earth. “ Ought not Christ to have suffered these 
things, and to enter into his glory,” Luke xxiv. 26. 
“ It became Him, for whom are ail things, and by whom 
are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to 
make the Captain of their salvation perfect through 
sufferings,” Heb. ii. 10. Joseph revealed to Pharaoh 
and to all Egypt what was the will of Heaven concern¬ 
ing them for many years to come: thus Jesus reveal¬ 
ed to a guilty, perishing world the will of God for their 
salvation, and made timely provision, not for the tran¬ 
sient and ineffectual support of a few fleeting years, buft 
for the eternal entertainment and felicity of men, who 
were devoted to death, and threatened with everlasting 
misery. Joseph employed the pressure of famine to en¬ 
slave Fgypt, and to subject a whole people to the will 
of the sovereign : but Jesus, armed with all power for 
our destruction, employed it only for our deliverance; 
and instead of sinking and degrading the subjects of his 
government, such is his love, he raises them all to the 
dignities, privileges and possessions of the sons of God. 


430 


HISTORY OT JOSEPH. 


LECT. XVII. 


He is the true prophet, “ the true light which enlight- 
eneth every man that cometh into the world,” “in 
whom the Spirit of God is ; none so discreet and wise 
as he,” Zaphnathpaaneah, the true revealer of secrets, 
who “ is worthy to take the sealed book,” which con¬ 
tains the secrets of the eternal mind, and to open its 
seven seals. The clemency of Joseph to his unkind, 

’ unnatural brothers, is a lively and affecting representa¬ 
tion of the patience, gentleness and mercy of Christ to 
his brethren after the flesh, in the first instance, and to 
guilty ungrateful men in general. “Father forgive 
them,” said he, as he was expiring on the cross, “ they 
know not what they do. ” And not many days after that 
with wicked hands men had crucified and slain him, 
many thousands of these very men were made to taste 
of his grace, were admitted into his family, and exalted 
to a place with him on his throne. But we must not 
pursue the similitude through every particular; it would 
protract our discourse to an immoderate length. Fi¬ 
nally then, Joseph piously referred every thing that befel 
him to the provident, wise and gracious destination of 
the Almighty: and what saith Jesus? “I seek not 
mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath 
sent me.” “ My meat is to do the will of him that sent 
me, and to finish his work.” “ O my Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not 
as I will, but as thou wilt.” 

And thus have we finished the history of the patri¬ 
arch Joseph : the various stages of whose life may be 
thus calculated. He was born in Haran, in the year of 
the world two thousand two hundred and fifty-nine, 
where he lived till six years old. He was then remo¬ 
ved with the rest of his father’s family into Canaan, 
where he lived eleven years; at which period he was 
by his brethren sold to the Ishmaelites, and carried into 
Egypt, where he served Potiphar ten years, and remain¬ 
ed in prison three; so that he was thirty, when he first 
stood before Pharaoh, and was raised immediately to 
the dignity of viceroy. Supposing the seven plenteous 


LECT. XVII. 


HISTORY OF JOSEPH. 


431 


years to commence immediately, he was thirty-seven 
when they ended : aixl the second year of famine being 
ended, he being then thirty-nine, Jacob and his family 
descended into Egypt; and the aged patriarch lived 
there cherished by his son seventeen years, which brings 
himself forward to his fifty-sixth year. After his fa¬ 
ther’s death he lived fifty-four years more, in all one 
hundred and ten. So that Joseph lived in Egypt full 
ninety-three years : a slave and a prisoner thirteen: a 
prince and ruler eighty : under several successive mo- 
narchs; being justly esteemed a necessary minister of 
state in all reigns. He died before the birth of Moses 
sixty-four years, and before the departing of the chil¬ 
dren of Israel out of Egypt one hundred and forty-four. 
And with the account of his death and embalming, ends 
the book of Genesis, containing the most ancient, au¬ 
thentic, instructive history extant; during the space of 
two thousand three hundred and sixty-nine years : from 
the deluge seven hundred and thirteen ; and before 
Christ one thousand six hundred and thirty-five. 

These things seem as a tale that is told. But time 
is hurrying on a period and an establishment of things, 
under which Adam and his youngest son shall be con¬ 
temporaries ; in which intervening ages shall be swal¬ 
lowed up and lost: and that only remain, which time 
and death and the grave cannot affect when the cave of 
Macpelah shall surrender up its precious deposit; 
when Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and all 
the faithful shall live again and reign for ever and ever. 
“ Blessed are they who shall eat bread in the kingdom 
of God.” “Blessed are they who shall come unto 
Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the 
heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of 
angels: to the general assembly and church of the first 
born which are written in heaven, and to God the 
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made per¬ 
fect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, 
and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better 
things than that of Abel,’* Heb. xii. 22—24, 


. HISTORY OF MOSES. 


LECTURE XVIII. 

And there went a man of the house of Levi , and took to 
w fe a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived 
and hare a son ; and when she saw him that he was 
a goodly child, she hid him three months . And when she 
could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of 
bulrushes , and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and 
,put the child therein ; and she laid it in the flags by 
the river's brink . And his sister stood afar off to wit 
what woidd be done to him. And the daughter of 
Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river , and 
her maidens walked along by the river's side: and 
when she saw the ark among the flags , she sent her 
maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it , she 
saw the child: and behold\ the babe wept . And she 
had compassion on him , and said, This is one of the 
Hebrew's children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's 
daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the 
Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for 
thee ? And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her , Go. 
And the maid went and called the child's mother . 
And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her , Take this 
child away, and nurse it for me , and I will give thee 
thy wages: and the woman took the child , and nursed 
it. And the child grew , and she brought him unto 
Pharaoh*s daughter, and he became her son: and she 
called his name Moses ; and she said, Because I drew 
him out of the water. —Exodus ii. 1—10. 

Xf the ingenious fictions of ancient bards afford an 
innocent and rational amusement, and be therefore held 
in high estimation; what superiour obligation is the 




LECT. XVIII. 


HISTORY OF MOSES, 


433 


world under, to that divine Spirit who has vouchsafed 
to draw into light the most remote antiquity, to pre¬ 
serve from oblivion the venerable men who first culti¬ 
vated and peopled the earth ; and, in the language, not 
of fiction, but of truth, has delineated the ways of Pro¬ 
vidence, and unfolded the deep and intricate recesses 
of the human heart ? Were it not for the sacred pages 
of divine revelation we should have been entirely ig¬ 
norant of what happened in the world for at least one 
half of its duration. But borne on the wingsof inspi¬ 
ration, we fly back to the very birth of nature, we be- 
hold the first dawning of light scattered the gloom, 
and converse with the first man whom God created 
upon the earth. And how much more pleasant, as 
well as profitable, is it, to expatiate in the field of real 
history, than to wander and lose ourselves in the idle 
regions of romance ! If we owe much to the illustrious 
poet of Greece, for his amusing pictures of early life 
and manners, how deeply are we indebted to the more 
illustrious Jewish historian and poet, who has furnish¬ 
ed us with so much juster and more ex ilted ideas of 
Deity, more faithful and instructive pictures of human 
life ; and who has so successfully interwoven the his¬ 
tory of redemption with that of mankind. 

The sacred book which lias afforded us during the 
year past, so much pleasing instruction, is altogether 
extraordinary in its kind, whether we consider the 
beauty of the composition, the importance of the in¬ 
formation which it contains, the internal marks of au¬ 
thenticity which it bears, or the noble purpose to 
which it has been, and may be made subservient. 
Moses, its inspired author, who has with so much ac¬ 
curacy, elegance and force, described the characters 
and lives of the patriarchs from Adam to Joseph, is 
now entering on his own wonderful and interesting 
story. The man who henceforth acts, is the same who 
writes : the events which he is about to record come, 
not from the information of others, but from his own 
Vo 1. 1. 3 I 


434 


HISTORY OF MOSES. 


LECT. XVIII. 


immediate knowledge ; and the simplicity and candor 
of his narration are sufficient vouchers of its truth and 
faithfulnt ss. 

Sixty-four years had now elapsed from the death of 
Joseph, and one hundred and thirty-four from the de¬ 
scent of Jacob into Egypt: and vv hat surprising changes 
have taken place! A little band of seventy-persons is 
multiplied into a great nation : the mild and gracious 
prince who took pleasure in cherishing and protecting 
the father and brethren of Joseph, is exchanged for a 
jealous and sanguinary tyrant, determined to depress 
and extirpate their descendants : the country which 
once gave them support and shelter, is now moistened 
with their tears, and with the blood of their infant off¬ 
spring ; and favoured guests, made to dwell in the best 
of land, are turned into odious slaves condemned to the 
furnace. Such are the alterations which time is con¬ 
tinually producing in human affairs, such the impo- 
tency of man to secure blessings to his posterity, such 
the misery of a people subjected to the will of a des¬ 
potic sovereign. 

In vain do men dream of national generosity and 
gratitude—they exist not: in vain do the claims of 
humanity and justice oppose themselves to the interest, 
the ambition and caprice of princes. Joseph had very 
unwisely contributed to the aggrandizement of the 
Egyptian monarchs, and his own family is the first to 
ft el the rod of that power which he had helped to raise. 
Injustice in princes is always bad policy. A nation so 
certainly favoured of Heaven as Israel was, must have 
proved the strongest bulwark to Egypt, if treated as 
friends. Increased from seventy souls, to six hundred 
thousand men, besides women and children, it was 
dangerous to irritate them, and difficult if not impos¬ 
sible to subdue. Too proud to enter into treaty with 
them as allies, too timid to attempt their extirpation 
by open force, and too suspicious to confide in their 
gratitude and attachment, Pharaoh adopts the barba- 


LE CT. XVIII. 


HISTORY OF MOSES, 


435 


rous policy of undermining their strength by excessive 
labour; of breaking their spirit by severity, and of 
preventing their future increase, by putting to death 
their male children as soon as they were born. Such 
a state of things was very unfavourable to marrying and 
giving in marriage. Nevertheless marriages were con¬ 
tracted, and children procreated ; for it is absurd as it 
is wicked, for any earthly power whatever to set itself 
to counteract the great plans of God and nature. God 
has said “ increase and multiply in vain has Pha¬ 
raoh said “ abstain.” Amram of the family of Levi 
accordingly,* in these worst of times, takes to wife 
Jochebed of the same tribe, indeed his own father’s 
sister, by whom he had three children; Aaron, pro¬ 
bably born before the bloody edict for destroying the 
males was published ; Miriam, whose sex was a pro¬ 
tection from the rigor of it, and Moses, who came into 
the world while it was operating with all its horrid 
effects. 

Josephus in his Jewish antiquities relates, that about 
the time of the birth of Moses, one of the Egyptian 
seers informed the king that a child was about to arise 
among the Israelites, who should crush the power of 
Egypt, and exalt his own nation to great eminence and 
splendor, if he lived to the years of maturity : for, 
that he should distinguish himself above all his con¬ 
temporaries by his wisdom and virtue, and acquire 
immortal glory by his exploits. He farther alleges, 
that the king, instigated by his own fears of such an 
event, and by the cruel counsels of the seer, issued the 
bloody decree which must be an eternal blot upon his 
memory 

The distress of Jochebed upon finding herself preg¬ 
nant, is to be conceived, not described. The anxiety 
and apprehension naturally incident to that delicate 
situation, must have been aggravated by terrors more 
dreadful than the pangs of child-birth, or even the loss 
of life itself. As a wife and a mother in Israel, she was 


436 


HISTORY OF MOSES. 


LECT. XVIII* 


looking and longing for the birth of another man child; 
but that sweet expectation was as often checked and 
destroyed bv the bitter reflection that she was subject 
to the king of Egypt; that if she bare a son it was for 
the sword, or to glut some monster of the river. The 
Jewish antiquarian informs us, that the anxiety of the 
parents was greatly alleviated by assurances given 
to the father in a vision of the night, that the child 
with whom his wife was then pregnant should be mi¬ 
raculously preserved, and raised up by Providence to 
the glorious and important work of delivering the seed 
of Abraham from their present misery. And indeed, 
this fact is countenanced and supported by the short 
hints which scripture has given us of the subject. 
Among the other instances of victorious faith record¬ 
ed in the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, that of the 
parents of Moses is marked with honour and approba¬ 
tion by the apostle. “ By faith Moses, when he was 
born, was hid three months of his parents, because they 
saw he was a proper child, and they w ere not afraid of 
the king’s commandment.” Heb. xi. 23. It is not un¬ 
reasonable to suppose, that their faith might have some 
particular promise or intimation from Heaven to rest 
upon. 

The time at length came that she should be deliver¬ 
ed ; and she brought forth a son, according to the same 
historian, without the usual pains and consequent 
weakness of child-bearing ; by wdiich means no foreign 
aid being required, concealment was rendered more 
easy, and the exertions of the mother in behalf of her 
child, were scarcely, if at all, interrupted. “ A 
goodly child” is the modest language which Moses 
employs in describing himself: “ exceeding fair,” or 
fair to God, that is, divinely fair, is the stronger ex¬ 
pression ot St. Stephen, in his recapitulation of this 
period of the Jewish history. From which, without 
the fond encomiums of profane authors, we may con¬ 
clude, that Providence had distinguished this iilustri- 


JLECT. XVIII. 


HISTORY OF MOSESo 


437 


on person from his birth, by uncommon strength, 
size and beauty. Every child is lovely in the partial 
eve of maternal affection: what then must Moses, the 
wonder of the world, have been to his enraptured pa¬ 
rents ! But the dearer the comfort, the greater the care, 
and that care increasing every hour. Not only the 
child, and such a child, was continually in jeopardy, 
but certain and cruel death was hanging every instant, 
by a single hair, over the heads of all who were con¬ 
cerned in the concealment; nay, the salvation of a 
great nation was at stake ; nay, the promise and cove¬ 
nant of God was in question. 

In the conduct of these good Israelites, the parents 
of Moses, we have a most instructive example respect¬ 
ing many important particulars of our duty. They 
teach us, that no circumstances of inconvenience, dif¬ 
ficulty or danger, should deter us from following the 
honest impulses of our nature, or from complying 
with the manifest dictates of religion ; and, at the same 
time, reprove that would-be-wise generation of men 
among us, who, from I know not what reasons of 
prudence, or others which they dare not avow, defraud 
their country, the world, and the church of God, of 
their due and commanded increase. Their faith in 
God, employing in its service secrecy, vigilance and 
circumspection, admonishes us ever to connect the 
diligent use of all lawful and appointed means, with 
trust in and dependance upon Heaven, as we wish to 
arrive safely and certainly at the end proposed. In 
them, as in a glass, we see confidence without pre¬ 
sumption, diligence, zeal and attention free from in¬ 
credulity ; we see Providence firmly, undauntedly 
resorted to, with the consciousness of having done 
their utmost to help themselves. Without this trust 
and this consciousness, yielding their joint support, 
what must the wretched mother have been, compelled 
at length, by dire necessity, to expose the son of her 
womb on the face of the Nile, in a basket of rushes ? 


438 


HISTORY OF MOSES. 


LECT. XVIII. 


I love to see a perseverance of exertion that leaves 
nothing* undone which is possible to be done ; and a 
faith that holds out as long as hope exists Why not 
cast the whole burden on Providence ? Is not he who 
preserved the child floating in an ark of bulrushes, able 
to save him naked in the stream, or even in the jaws 
of the hungry crocadile ? If an ark must be prepared, 
it is also necessary to employ all this curious attention 
in daubing it with slime and with pitch, to prevent the 
admission of the water? What, leave nothing to him 
who has marked the infant for his own, and solemnly 
charged himself with his safety ? Yes ; after we have 
done our all, much, every thing depends on the good¬ 
ness of Heaven. But the careful mother did well 
when she pitched every seam and chink of the frail 
vehicle as attentively as if its precious deposit had 
been to owe its preservation solely to that care and dili¬ 
gence. “ Cast all your care upon him ; for he careth 
for you,” 1 Pet. v. 7. Mark it well, it is our care, not 
our work, which we are encouraged to cast upon that 
God who careth for us, and who hath said, u 1 will 
never leave thee nor forsake thee.’’ 

Mark yet again the diligent use of means, and the 
interpositions of Providence; how they tally with, 
unite, strengthen and support each other. The anxious 
mother does not yet think she has done enough. Mi¬ 
riam her daughter must go, and, at a distance, watch 
the event. And here ends the province of human sa¬ 
gacity, foresight and industry; and here begins the 
interposition of providential care. The mother has 
done her part. “ The rushes, the slime, and the pitch,” 
were her prudent and necessary preparation. And the 
great God has at the same time been preparing his ma¬ 
terials, and arranging his instruments : the heart of a 
king’s daughter, the power of Egypt, the flux of the 
current; the concurrence of circumstances too fine for 
the human eye to discern, too complex for human un¬ 
derstanding to unravel, and too mighty for created 
power to control. 


LE CT. XVIII. 


HISTORY OF MOSIS. 


439 


We pointed to the interposition of Heaven ; but, 
we beseech you to observe, it interposed not by work* 
inga miracle, but by the seasonable, simple and natural 
disposition of second causes, opening to one and the 
same end, without any design, consciousness or con¬ 
cert of their own. And, be it ever remembered, that 
the wise, gracious, almighty Ruler of the world, pleases 
not himself, nor amuses his creatures, by a profuse, 
ostentatious exhibition of wonders, but by an intelli¬ 
gent and dexterous management of ordinary things. 
He carries on his righteous government not according 
to new and surprising laws, but by the surprising, un¬ 
accountable, unexpected methods in which he executes 
the laws which he has established from the beginning. 

Let us dwell a little on the minuter circumstances 
of the case before us : as they illustrate a subject of 
all others the most comfortable and tranquilizing to a 
race of beings, beyond measure wretched and pitiable, 
if there be not a God who rules in wisdom and in lov¬ 
ing kindness all the affairs of men. We are first led 
to the humble cottage of Amram, and mingled in the 
tender solicitudes of an obscure family, in one of the 
most common situations of human life. From thence, 
we step immediately to the palace, to attend the hu¬ 
mors, caprices and pleasures of a princess. Jochebed, 
the wife of Amram, and Termuthis, the daughter of 
Pharaoh! What can they have in common with one 
another, excepting those particulars in which all man' 
kind resemble ali mankind : and yet Providence brings 
them together, gives them a mutual concern, a mutual 
charge, a mutual interest. By how many accidents 
might this most fortunate coincidence have been pre¬ 
vented ? A day, an hour earlier or later, in the active 
care of the one, and the contingent amusement of the 
other, and the parties concerned had never met. The 
slightest alteration in the setting-in of the wind or the 
tide ; the particular temperature of the fleeting air, or 
the more variable temperature of a female mind, apt tc 


440 


HISTORY Of MOSES. 


LECT. XVIII. 


be corrupted by unbounded gratification and indul¬ 
gence, unaccustomed to contradiction, governed by 
whim, following no guide but inclination, and occu¬ 
pied only with the object of the moment: the opera¬ 
tion of all, or any one of these, might have defeated 
the design. But these and a thousand such like con¬ 
tingencies unstable as water, and unchangeable as the 
wind, subdued by the hand of Omnipotence, acquire 
the solidity of the rock, and the stedfast.ness of the 
poles of heaven. The mother could not part with her 
child a moment sooner, durst not retain him a moment 
longer. The princess could betake herself to no other 
amusement or employment, could pitch upon no other 
hour of the day, could resort to no other part of the 
river, could divert her attention to no other object; 
the tide could not run, nor the wind blow in any other 
direction, nor with greater or less rapidity. Moses 
was not safer when king in Jeshurun, encompassed 
with the thousands of Israel, was not safer in the mount 
with God, is not safer within the adamantine walls of 
the new Jerusalem, than Moses in the flags, Moses at 
the mercy of the waves, of the monsters of the Nile, 
and of men more merciless than wild beasts. YY hat 
power threatened the life of Moses ? The king of 
Egypt. What power preserved it ? The king of 
Egypt’s daughter. What were the steps which led to 
his elevation ? Those which foreboded his destruction. 
What circumstances forwarded the accomplishment 
of the oracle ? Those which attempted to defeat it. 
Could all this have been the work of man ? No ; it 
must have proceeded from “ the Lord of Hosts, who 
is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.” 
u Who doth according to his will in the army of hea¬ 
ven, ai d among the inhabitants of the earth : and none 
can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou,” 
Dan. iv. 35. 

The usual train of common events led Pharaoh’s 
daughter to the river side; the ark in which little Moses 


LECT. XVIII. 


HISTORY OF MOSES. 


441 


was laid, happened to catch her eye; curiosity prompt¬ 
ed her to examine its contents, and pity at the sight 
touched her heart. If there be an object in nature 
more interesting and affecting than another, it was that 
which now presented itself to this great lady’s eye. A 
beautiful infant, of three months old, deserted by its 
own parents, exposed to ten thousand dangers, and 
expressing by the tender testimony of tears, its sense of 
that misery of which it had not yet acquired the con¬ 
sciousness. “ Behold the babe wept.” Pity is a na¬ 
tive plant in a noble heart. The story told itself. The 
situation in which the child was found explained the 
cruel occasion. The sacrament he carried engraven 
on his flesh, declared to whom he belonged. Com¬ 
passion was fortunately connected with power, and 
Providence wisely balanced one thing with another, 
the jealousy and severity of the father, with the tender¬ 
ness and generosity of the daughter. 

Josephus, with whom Moses is justly a favourite ob¬ 
ject, has recorded many little particulars relating to 
this part of his history. And, among others, that 
when the child was applied to the breasts of several 
successive Egyptian nurses, he turned from them with 
signs of much disgust and aversion, and that this en¬ 
couraged his sister Miriam, who was axiously at¬ 
tending the event, and observed the eager concern of 
the princess about her little foundling, to propose call¬ 
ing a nurse of her own nation, and thereby artfully 
introduced the mother herself to the tender office of 
suckling her own child. Whatever be in this, one 
useful lesson is taught us, on better authority than 
that of Josephus, namely, that perseverance in difficult 
and painful duty is the shortest and safest road to the 
attainment of our just and reasonable desires. What 
a blessed change ! The mother of Moses is permitted 
to do that for a princely hire, and under royal protection, 
which she would have purchased with her life the privi¬ 
lege of doing for nothing, could she but have done it 
Vol. I. ;3 k 


7 


442 HISTORY OT MOSES. lect. xviii. 

with safety to her child. Moses finds shelter in the 
house of Pharaoh, from the wrath of the king, and he 
who was destined to be the plague of Egypt, and the 
deliverer of Israel, is trained to power, wisdom and 
consequence, by the Egyptian Magi, and the favour of 
her who was next the throne. 

But, the Providence which saved him amidst so 
many perils, is pleased to record and to perpetuate the 
memory of his deliverance in his name. It was cus¬ 
tomary to name the child on the day of circumcision, 
the eighth from its birth. Perhaps the anxiety and 
distress of their situation might have broken upon some 
of their ceremonies practiced upon that occasion: or, 
if a name had been given him by his parents, he has 
not thought proper to hand it down to posterity. It 
being his own design and the will of God, that he 
should be known to all generations by the appellation 
which Pharaoh’s daughter gave to the babe whom she 
saved from perishing; Moses, “ drawn out” “ be¬ 
cause,” said she, “ 1 drew him out of the water.” 

The Jewish writers take delight—and who can blame 
them, in expatiating on the extraordinary accomplish¬ 
ments, external and mental, natural and acquired, of 
their great law-giver ? They ascribe to him the most 
perfect symmetry of features, uncommon height of sta¬ 
ture, a noble commanding demeanor, the most engaging 
sweetness of disposition, the most winning address and 
eloquence, the most undaunted courage, the most pro¬ 
found erudition. Indeed the singular beauty of his 
person is hinted in no obscure terms in many places of 
scripture, and the additional lustre which it afterwards 
acquired by intercourse with Heaven, lustre which re¬ 
mained unimpaired to the latest old age, convey to us 
a very high idea of his external appearance. But he * ; 
stands in no need of the pen of a Philo or a Josephus 
to make his panegyric. His own actions and writings 
are his noblest monument; and will live to instruct, 
delight and bless mankind, as long as good sense and 


EECT. XVIII. 


HISTORY OF MOSES. 


443 


good taste, virtue, patriotism and religion exist, and 
are held in estimation in the world. 

The parallel between the Jewish and the Christian 
legislators is so striking, and supported by so many 
scripture authorities, that he who runs may read it. 
Previous to the birth of Moses, the Israelitish state was 
reduced to the lowest ebb of distress and despondency ; 
the birth of Christ found a lost world sunk into the 
most deplorable corruption, guilt and misery. Of the 
appearance of Moses there was a general expectation 
over all the land of Egypt. Christ, “ the desire of all 
nations,” was earnestly looked for by “ all who waited 
for the consolation of Israel,” who searched the scrip¬ 
tures, and observed the appearances of the times; and 
by infallible signs was his approach announced to man¬ 
kind. The deliverer of the seed of Jacob was no 
foreign potentate, with a strong hand and stretched 
out arm, but a child of their own nation. And who 
is the Saviour of perishing sinners ? “ Verily he took 

not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him 
the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it be- 
hoveth him to be made like unto his brethren, that he 
might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, in things 
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins 
of the people,” Heb. ii. 16, 17. “ As the children 

are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took 
part of the same, that through death he might destroy 
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,” 
Heb. ii. 14. The extraordinary circumstances attend¬ 
ing the birth of Moses were ascertained to the world, 
and transmitted to posterity, by means of an edict of 
the king of Egypt. The birth of Christ, in like man¬ 
ner, as to the time, place, and situation, was marked out 
for the knowledge of mankind by a decree of Caesar, 
the emperor of Rome. Both the one and the other, 
but for the special interposition of Heaven, had fallen 
victims to the jealousy and apprehensions of two bloody 
and ambitious princes. Moses escaped the hands of 



444 


HISTORY OF MOSES, 


LECT. XVIII, 


Pharaoh by falling into those of his daughter. Christ 
avoided the cruelty of Herod by retiring for a while 
into Egypt. All history agrees in representing Moses 
as a person of extraordinary grace, wisdom and come¬ 
liness ; and of whom is the prophet speaking, when he 
says, “Thou art fairer than the children of - men: 
grace is poured into thy lips ; therefore God hath bless¬ 
ed thee for ever,” Pslam xlv. 2. Moses was brought 
up in all the learning of the Egyptians.* Christ was 
anointed with the Spirit without measure. Moses 
stands distinguished by a name which commemorates 
a temporal deliverance. Christ by two names, de¬ 
scriptive of his high and important office, “ Jesus,” 
the, Saviour, and of the manner in which he was set 
apart to it, “ Christ,” the anointed of God. Moses 
began not to exist till the day that his mother Joche- 
bed bare him in Egypt, but Christ says of himself, 
“ Before Abraham was, I am.” Moses from the be¬ 
ginning was faithful as a servant to Him who appointed 
him; but “ Christ as a son over his own house; for 
in all things he must have the pre-eminence.” 

Now to God in Christ, be ascribed, by all nations, 
and generations of men upon earth, and by every angel 
in heaven* kingdom, power and glory for ever. Amen. 


END OF VOLUME L 



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